How to Perform Effective Searches with Discussion Board Plus

When you install Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint, List Search Simple is also installed.

List Search Simple lets you configure a search page for your Discussion Board Plus list so users can search discussion board posts for relevant content. The search page is not created automatically. Follow the instructions below to configure and use List Search Simple to search Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint lists.

Configuring List Search Simple

Step	Action	Result
1.	Follow the instructions for Adding the List Search Simple to a Page. You can add the Web Part to any page in the same Web application as Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint.
2.	Edit the Web Part and click List Search Simple Settings button.
3.	In the List Search Simple Settings page, click the Search Criteria Configuration tab.
4.	In the Enter a SharePoint site URL box, type the path to the SharePoint site that contains the Discussion Board Plus list you want to search. The Discussion Board Plus list can reside in the same site, a different site, or a site in another site collection, as long as it is in the same Web application. Site URLs can be absolute (http ://servername/site) or relative (./site). Bamboo recommends using a relative URL if the Web application has multiple access points using Alternative Access Mappings (AAM) or if the Web Part will be saved as part of a site template.
5.	Click the View Lists and Libraries button to populate the Available Lists and Libraries drop-down list.
6.	In the Select a list or library drop-down list, select the Discussion Board Plus list you want to search.
7.	In the Search Columns section, select the following columns and click the > button to move them to the Selected Columns list. Hold down the CTRL key to select multiple columns. To reorder how the columns are displayed in the List Search Simple search page, click on a column name and click the up or down arrow.	A suggested order is included below: Subject Body Created By Rating Column (if a Bamboo Rating column was added to the Discussion Board Plus list) Is Sticky Mark as Answer Suggest as Answer
8.	Review the remaining settings in the Search Criteria Configuration tab. For more information about each setting, see the Search Criteria Configuration section of Configuring the List Search Simple.
9.	Click the Search Results Configuration tab. The Search Results Display settings are preconfigured for optimal performance with Discussion Board Plus lists and cannot be changed. Review the Search Result Options and make any changes to options available when viewing search results. For more information about each setting, see the Search Results Configuration section of Configuring the List Search Simple.
10.	When you have reviewed all settings, click Save & Close in the List Search Simple Settings page. Click OK in the Web Part tool pane.	List Search Simple is now configured and ready to search the Discussion Board Plus list.