Published files, don't appear in advanced searcher

Question

Published files, don't appear in advanced searcher

Charlie Martharper 385

Hi!

I have created an advanced searcher to find easier and faster but when published files, some of them arent appearing. Why is this happening? Should I wait for crawling or what am I missing.

I have a library with no version nor approvals and I have no problem there, but when it comes to private libraries with approvals and publishing, the searcher can't find them.

2 answers

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Answer 1

Jayden-P 16,755 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Charlie Martharper

Thank you for posting question to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Can you clarify "private libraries" you mentioned? Is it a document library with a unique permission or something else?

From my testing, if that user doesn't have unique permission to that private library, the files and documents will not be visible.

Please try and let me know more about your private libraries' configurations.

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Charlie Martharper 385 Reputation points

2026-02-23T11:49:54.7466667+00:00

Hi @Jayden-P

At the moment, I am just doing the searches and I have full control. With private I mean, subsites with unique permissions. Those subsites has private permissions beside the main site which is the "public", everyone has viewer permission.
Jayden-P 16,755 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-23T12:14:37.43+00:00

Hi @Charlie Martharper

Where is your advanced searcher? Is it in the main site or in the private subsite?
Charlie Martharper 385 Reputation points

2026-02-23T12:23:36.4433333+00:00

I have one advanced searcher in the public site, that looks into the public libraries. The public libraries doesn't have version nor approvals as once they are approved in the private, with power automate it updates the file in the public. So when looking in the public lirbaries with the advanced searcher in the beginning there is no problem but when doing the same in the private subsites with specific subsites it's not working.
Jayden-P 16,755 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-24T08:48:38.8366667+00:00

Hi @Charlie Martharper

From my understanding, you have a subsite with unique permission (private subsite), in that private subsite, you create a document library. Do you break inheritance on this library also or the library inherit the permission from the private subsite?

And the Power Automate flow will copy the approved file in private subsite to public subsite, right?

If the user doesn't have the permission in that private subsite, the items will not return, this is due to security trimming.
Charlie Martharper 385 Reputation points

2026-02-24T09:00:38.58+00:00

Hi @Jayden-P

Yes, I break inheritance. The public library its just viewer to all users of the instituion, the private library just the team that works with the files and with editor and approval permission.

The flow in power automate, it doesnt let to copy the files (I guess because it's a SharePoint server and not online) so I create a new one in the public library but with the same metadata and everything from the private library.

I think then, that it should be visible because it doesn't has the inheritance from the private one as it's not the "same".
Jayden-P 16,755 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-24T11:09:48.79+00:00
Hi @Charlie Martharper

I see your point now; the items did not appear in the searcher you mentioned are those were created by the flow. (the items that created based on private library)

You can check:

Library Settings > Advanced settings > Allow items from this document library to appear in search results = Yes

Site Settings (both public and private)> Search and offline availability > Allow this site to appear in search results = Yes

Run Incremental Crawl: Central Admin > Manage Service Application >Search Service Application > Content Sources > Run Incremental Crawl.
Charlie Martharper 385 Reputation points

2026-02-24T14:02:17.81+00:00

Hi! @Jayden-P

I did all those things and still there is no change in the search results...

Cerca means Search:

Did that both libraries + site. Then did full crawl + incremental crawl.

The path of the search is right, because other files are found but the pptx is not getting it.
Jayden-P 16,755 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-25T07:23:46.7366667+00:00

Hi @Charlie Martharper

Please check your private message so we can discuss this further.

Answer 2

There are several reasons why published files may not appear in your advanced search results in SharePoint. Here are some potential issues to consider:

Crawling and Indexing: If the files are newly published, they may not have been indexed yet. SharePoint has a scheduled crawl process, and it might take some time for new content to appear in search results. You can manually trigger a reindex of the document library to expedite this process.
Search Visibility Settings: Ensure that the document library's settings allow items to appear in search results. You can check this by going to the library settings and confirming that the option Allow items from this document library to appear in search results? is set to Yes.
Permissions: Search results are security-trimmed, meaning users will only see content they have permission to access. If the files are in a private library and the user does not have the necessary permissions, they will not appear in search results.
Approval Workflow: If the files are subject to an approval process, they may not be indexed until they are fully approved. Ensure that the files are published and approved if your library has such workflows in place.
Draft Items: If the files are in draft status, they typically do not get indexed. Verify that the items are published and not in draft mode.

If you have checked all these settings and the issue persists, it may be beneficial to consult the SharePoint documentation or support for further troubleshooting.

References:

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Published files, don't appear in advanced searcher

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