M365 Changelog: We’re making changes to search in SharePoint Online

MC230532 – As part of our continued effort to bring Microsoft Search to all your favorite productivity apps and services we’re making changes and improvements to several classic search experiences in SharePoint.

Key Points:

• Major: Retirement
• Timing: February 1st, 2021
• Action: Assess impact for your organization

How this will affect your organization:

Beginning in early February 2021 we will be making changes to the following areas:

• We will be retiring several FQL conditions in SharePoint Online search. Instead we recommend the utilization of KQL, which is where we will continue to invest.
  • Learn more about KQL here: Keyword Query Language (KQL) syntax reference.
• We will be updating search query rules and removing specific conditions from SharePoint Online and recommend using answers in Microsoft Search.
  • Learn more about answers in Microsoft Search here: Plan your content.
• We will be removing the ability to configure authoritative pages in SharePoint Online and recommend using Microsoft Answers.
  • Learn more about answers in Microsoft Search here: Plan your content.
• We will be removing personal favorites and recommend using personal query history in Microsoft Search.
  • Learn more about personal favorites here: Change settings for query suggestions, people suggestions, and personal favorites results.
• Custom rank models and Manage Query Client Types were inherited from the on-premises version(s) of SharePoint Server and are not supported in SharePoint Online. As part of our continued investments in Microsoft Search we’ll be retiring these capabilities and related settings from SharePoint Online.
  • Learn more about how to leverage these capabilities in SharePoint Online review:
    • Manage query client types
    • Create a custom ranking model by using the Ranking Model Tuning App

What you need to do to prepare:

Review the changes and documentation to assess the impact for your organization.

For additional details review the blog: We’re making changes to search in SharePoint Online