Microsoft has added Content Search Web Part (CSWP) and Site Collection Publishing (CCP) to SharePoint Online in Office 365, allowing users to perform a search on-page and publish content on multiple sites from the same source.
The new search tool will allow users to send a search query within the web part, rather than searching via a search box in Bing or another search engine.
CSWP presents the results on-page, rather than bouncing out and presenting the results on a separate page as is the case when users perform a search with Bing, for example.
You can add a CSWP to a SharePoint Online page from the Insert menu when you are editing a page, allowing you to control the results the user sees when they navigate to a page containing a CSWP.
“By default, the query in the CSWP is configured to show the three last recently changed items within the site,” said Mark Kashman, SharePoint product manager.
“By configuring the query, you can change both the number of items that are shown in the CSWP, and also which content is shown.”
CCP allows you to separate content authoring from branding by keeping the original content in one or more authoring site where you can create and manage it. This allows users to publish it in several places, regardless of branding using SWP, therefore preventing duplication of content across sites.
“The power of search enables you to bring rich, dynamic solutions to life for your users without the overhead of manually managing duplicative content in multiple locations. Create once, publish multiple times. Search-driven solutions provide a whole new method to avoid being static, providing a leap forward in your company's agility,” Kashman added.
CCP and CSWP come as additions to Office 365 for Enterprise plans and are available to use on intranet or external sharing portals, not public-facing websites.
Both new features are extensions of the full enterprise search Microsoft released for SharePoint earlier this year.
