It’s so frustrating when you can’t find the right file or document.
You know it exists, but you can’t remember which folder it’s in, which Teams channel it was posted to, or even which department owns it.
If you added up all the minutes your team spent searching for files, how much does it cost your organisation in terms of productivity?
SharePoint Search is one of the most underused productivity tools available to organisations already paying for Microsoft 365. It removes the need to know exactly where a document lives, and searches deeply inside files rather than just at the title level.
For teams dealing with high volumes of information across multiple departments, it’s a straightforward way to cut the time lost to document hunting.
Our Chief Operating Officer, Darren Hemming, demonstrates how powerful SharePoint search can be:
How to search for a file in SharePoint
Most people assume search tools only look at file names. SharePoint goes further – it searches inside documents too. That means if a keyword appears in the body of a Word document, a PDF, or a PowerPoint presentation, SharePoint will surface it, even if that word doesn’t appear in the file name.
Search within a specific site
If you have a reasonable idea which area a document belongs to – say, your Finance site or your Operations hub – start your search there. Navigate to that site and use the search bar. This will search everything within that site, which reduces noise and speeds up results.
Search within a specific library or folder
If you need to narrow further – for example, searching only within a particular department’s document library – navigate into that library first, then search. SharePoint looks downward from wherever you are. This is useful when you want to find a document within a specific project folder without wading through results from across the organisation.
Search across everything
When you genuinely don’t know where a document lives, start from your organisation’s SharePoint homepage or intranet landing page. From there, a search will cast the widest net – pulling results from every site and library you have access to. This is the right approach when you’re looking for something that could sit in any department.
Filter SharePoint results to find what you need faster
Once results appear, SharePoint allows you to filter by file type – so if you’re only interested in PDFs, or only want to see PowerPoint presentations, you can apply that filter immediately. This is particularly useful when a search term returns a large number of results across mixed file types.
You can also tap Show more results to see the full result set, including folders. Finding a relevant folder is often just as useful as finding a specific document – the files stored nearby are frequently related, and browsing them can surface resources you didn’t know to search for.
Some extra tips for better document management
While SharePoint search is powerful, designing and maintaining an intranet that is easy for your teams to navigate should always be your first priority.
Ensure your SharePoint environment has a clear homepage or intranet landing page. This is the launchpad for broad searches and is worth investing in if it doesn’t currently exist.
Encourage teams to store documents in SharePoint rather than locally. Search only works on what’s been uploaded – documents sitting on individual hard drives are invisible to it.
See our top tips for a well-governed SharePoint site here.
How Cloud Design Box can support you
We design SharePoint and Teams environments that support governance, security and compliance. Then we train and empower your staff to confidently find and use the right content.
Ready to make document management simple and reliable?
Contact Cloud Design Box to learn how we can help build a quality-driven, secure and user-friendly Microsoft 365 environment.
