M365 Changelog: (Updated) Retirement of Dynamic Ordering feature in classic search experiences
MC544789 – Updated April 27, 2023: Microsoft has updated the message with additional information. Thank you for your patience.
Microsoft has disabled the Dynamic Ordering feature for classic search experiences in SharePoint. While the UI for the feature is still present, all configurations associated with this feature are ignored.
When this will happen:
The UI will be removed by June 1, 2023.
How this affects your organization:
Dynamic Ordering is a classic search sorting feature which appeared in the SharePoint Query Builder dialog. The Query Builder dialog may be accessed three ways:
- as part of configuring a web part,
- configuring a result source,
- configuring a Query Rule with a query re-write action.
The Dynamic Ordering feature appears in the “Sort” tab of the dialog. The Dynamic Ordering feature allowed promotion or demotion of items in search results through configuration, by adding XRANK clauses to the query request.
What you can do to prepare:
Functional parity may be achieved by adding XRANK clauses directly to the query template in the Query Builder dialog.
This change does not affect the modern search experience, except for Site Scoped search queries which trigger Query Rules defined in the SharePoint Search Admin UI at the tenant level which added Dynamic Ordering rules.
As part of the evolution of the Microsoft 365 service, Microsoft periodically evaluates the capabilities of the service to make sure that we’re delivering the utmost value to customers. As Microsoft continue to invest in Microsoft Search capabilities, the company determined the “Dynamic Ordering” feature offered limited utility and after careful consideration decided to deprecate its entry points.
This link, How to change the order in which classic search results are displayed in SharePoint Server, documents Dynamic Ordering and will be updated to reflect the change in behavior.