Configuring and Indexing a Microsoft SharePoint Source With the Legacy Connector

Deprecated

A source defines a set of configuration parameters to extract and index Microsoft SharePoint content. This topic describes how to create a source using the SharePoint Legacy connector.

To configure and index a Microsoft SharePoint source

1. On the Coveo server, access the Administration Tool (see Opening the Administration Tool).

2. Select Index > Sources and Collections.

3. In the Collections section:

   1. Select an existing collection in which you want to add the new source.

      OR

   2. Click Add to create a new collection (see Adding a Collection).

4. In the Sources section, click Add.

   The Add Source page that appears is organized in three sections.

5. In the General Settings section of the Add Source page:

   

   1. Enter the appropriate value for the following required parameters:

      Name

      Enter a descriptive name of your choice for the source.

      Example: SharePoint Intranet

      Source Type

      CES 7.0.7814+ (August 2015) The connector used by this source. In this case, select SharePoint (deprecated).

      Notes:

      • If you do not see SharePoint (deprecated) in the Source Type list, your environment does not meet the requirements (see Microsoft SharePoint Legacy Connector Requirements).

      • CES 7.0.7711– (June 2015) The SharePoint (deprecated) source type is named SharePoint Legacy.

      • CES 7.0.6767– (June 2014) The SharePoint Legacy source type is named SharePoint.

      • CES 7.0.6830+ (July 2014) The SharePoint type corresponds to the source to be used with the second generation SharePoint connector (see Configuring and Indexing a Microsoft SharePoint Source).

      Addresses

      List of specific SharePoint farm sections that you want to index. If you need to index more than one section, enter one URL per line.

      Examples:

      • For the whole farm: 
        

        https://farm/

      • For a specific Web Application: 

        https://farm:8080/

      • For a specific site collection: 

        https://farm:8080/sites/Support/default.aspx

      • For a specific website: 
        

        https://farm:8080/sites/Support/subsite/default.aspx

      • For a specific document library: 

        https://farm:8080/Document Library/

      • For a specific list:

        https://farm:8080/sites/Support/Lists/Contacts/AllItems.aspx

        Important: A specific folder in a list is not supported.

      • For SharePoint Online: 

        https://domain.sharepoint.com

      Refresh Schedule

      Time interval at which the index is automatically refreshed to keep the index content up-to-date. The incremental refresh continuously takes care of indexing ongoing SharePoint content changes. You can select to refresh the source weekly by selecting the Every Sunday option.

      Note: You can create new or modify existing source refresh schedules (see Creating or Modifying a Source Schedule).

   2. Review the value for the following parameters that often do not need to be modified:

      Rating

      Change this value only when you want to globally change the rating associated with all items in this source relative to the rating to other sources (see Understanding Search Results Ranking).

      Example: If this source was for a legacy Intranet, you may want to set this parameter to Low, so that in the search interface, results from this source appear later in the list compared to those from other sources.

      Document Types

      If you defined custom document type sets, ensure to select the most appropriate for this source (see What Are Document Type Sets?).

      Active Languages

      If you defined custom active language sets, ensure to select the most appropriate for this source.

      Fields

      If you defined custom field sets, ensure to select the most appropriate for this source (see What Are Field Sets?).

6. In the Specific Connector Parameters & Options section of the Add Source page, review if you need to change the parameter default values:

   

   1. In the SharePoint References drop-down list, select the appropriate SharePoint reference set for this source.

      Note: You can define custom SharePoint references (see What Are SharePoint Reference Sets? and Adding a SharePoint Reference Set).

   2. In the Option section:

      Index personal sites

      Note: Personal websites are not available in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

      When selected, indexes all the personal sites of the SharePoint farm (tenant in SharePoint Online). This option is selected by default.

      Index user profiles

      When selected, indexes all the user profiles of the SharePoint farm (tenant in SharePoint Online). This option is selected by default.

      Notes:

      • Indexing user profiles can take a significant time depending on their number. Moreover, indexing user profiles more than once, creates as many duplicates in your index. It is thus recommended to only index your user profiles once for all your SharePoint sources:

        • When you configure your first SharePoint source, let the check box selected. For all you other SharePoint sources, clear the check box.

        • When you already have other configured SharePoint source(s), look for your smallest Web Application in size and clear the Index user profiles check box for all your other SharePoint sources.

      • User profiles are not available in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

      Index subsites

      When selected, indexes subsites recursively, starting with the URLs entered in the Addresses box, and proceeding to deeper levels until every document has been indexed. This option is selected by default.

      Example: When http://intranet/pages/ is a URL entered in the Addresses box and Index subsites is selected, the http://intranet/pages/news/ and http://intranet/pages/news/2012/ websites are also indexed.

      Index the document's metadata

      When selected, CES indexes all the document metadata, even metadata that are not associated with a field. The orphan metadata are added to the body of the document so that they can be searched using free text queries.

      When cleared (default), only the values of system and custom fields that have the Free Text Queries attribute selected will be searchable without using a field query (see Adding a Field to Search On and What Are Field Queries and Free Text Queries?).

      Example: A document has two metadata:

      • LastEditedBy containing the value Hector Smith

      • Department containing the value RH

      In CES, the custom field CorpDepartment is bound to the metadata Department and its Free Text Queries attribute is selected.

      When the Index the document's metadata option is cleared, searching for RH returns the document because a field is indexing this value. Searching for hector does not return the document because no field is indexing this value.

      When the Index the document's metadata option is selected, searching for hector also returns the document because CES indexed orphan metadata.

      Generate a cached HTML version of indexed documents

      When you select this check box (recommended), at indexing time, CES creates HTML versions of indexed documents. In the search interfaces, users can then more rapidly review the content by clicking the Quick View link rather than opening the original document with the original application. Consider clearing this check box only if you do not want to use Quick View links.

      Open results with cached version

      Leave this check box cleared (recommended) so that in the search interfaces, the main search result link opens the original document with the original application. Consider selecting this check box only when you do not want users to be able to open the original document but only see the HTML version of the document as a Quick View. In this case, you must also select Generate a cached HTML version of indexed documents.

   3. In the SharePoint Site Discovery section, specify which SharePoint site collections to index by selecting one of the following options:

      Index only starting addresses

      Indexes only the sites (and subsites when the Index subsites option is selected) whose addresses are entered in the Addresses box.

      Index the starting addresses and all sites listed in the Portal Site Directory

      Indexes the sites (and subsites when the Index subsites option is selected) whose URLs are entered in the Addresses box as well as all sites, related to these addresses, listed in the portal site directories.

      Index the Web application of the starting addresses

      Indexes all site collections of the Web Applications related to the starting addresses. The default choice.

      Index all the Web applications having the same host name

      Indexes all site collections of all Web Applications related to the starting addresses, as long as the Web Application has the same host as its related starting address.

      Note: The Coveo SharePoint web service must be installed on the SharePoint farm (tenant in SharePoint Online) otherwise, the connector is unable to locate all Web Applications (see Installing the Coveo Web Service, Search Box, and Search Interface into SharePoint).

7. In the Security section of the Add Source page:

   

   1. In the SharePoint Security Provider drop-down list, you must select a security provider of type SharePoint (see Creating a Security Provider for the SharePoint Legacy Connector).

   2. In the Authentication drop-down list, select the user identity that you created for the Microsoft SharePoint farm (tenant in SharePoint Online).

   3. CES 7.0.5031+ (March 2013) In the Authentication Type section, select the type of authentication used to access the SharePoint web services:

      Windows (Classic)

      Select for Web Applications that use classic authentication (NTLM or Kerberos), not Claims.

      Forms (Claims)

      Select for Claims-enabled Web Applications that use form authentication.

      Windows (Claims)

      Select for Claims-enabled Web Applications that use Windows authentication (NTLM or Kerberos).

      AD FS (Claims) CES 7.0.5556+ (June 2013)

      Select for Claims-enabled Web Applications that use ADFS as a trusted identity provider.

      Office 365 (Native)

      Select when crawling a SharePoint Online Web Application using a native Office 365 user account (ex.: john@acme.onmicrosoft.com).

      Office 365 (Single sign-on)

      Select when crawling a SharePoint Online Web Application using a single sign-on Office 365 user account (ex.: john@acme.com).

   4. CES 7.0.5556+ (June 2013) The following ADFS related parameters are only required when the Authentication Type is either AD FS (Claims) or Office 365 (Single sign-on):

      1. In the Url of the SharePoint AD FS Server box, enter the URL of the ADFS server which is trusted by SharePoint.

      2. In the Trust Identifier for SharePoint box, enter the Relying Party Trust identifier for the SharePoint web application (see Finding the Relying Party Trust Identifier for a SharePoint Web Application).

      The following parameters are required only when multiple ADFS servers are used to authenticate users in SharePoint

      1. In the Url of the Identity Provider AD FS Server box, enter the URL of the ADFS server which is used as an Identity Provider for the ADFS server trusted by SharePoint.

      2. In the Trust Identifier for the SharePoint AD FS Server box, enter the Relying Party Trust identifier for the SharePoint ADFS server (see Finding the Relying Party Trust Identifier for a SharePoint ADFS server).

   5. Click Save to save the source configuration and consider revising advanced source parameters before starting indexing the new source (see Modifying Hidden Microsoft SharePoint Source Parameters for the Legacy Connector).

      OR

   6. Click Save and Start to save and start indexing immediately.

Note: When your SharePoint Web Application uses Claims, the first time the SharePoint search interface is accessed, the first time setup page appears with two panels to let you enter your Claims information and allow access to the search interface (see Coveo .NET Front-End First Time Setup).