What makes a SharePoint column searchable?

To make SharePoint columns searchable you have to ensure that the column is included in the search index. Here’s how you can ensure a SharePoint column is searchable:

1. Ensure the column is indexed: To check if a column is indexed, go to the list or library settings and click on the column name. If the "Indexed" option is set to "Yes," the column is indexed.
2. Change your search settings: After the column has been indexed, configure your search settings to include the column in search queries. Navigate to your SharePoint search settings and ensure the column is added to the search schema. The search schema controls what users can search for.
3. Manage properties: Managed properties define search behavior. To configure a managed property for a SharePoint column, navigate to the search schema and select the column you want to make searchable. After doing so, create a new managed property and map it to the matching crawled property.
4. Perform a full crawl: A full crawl is a process that indexes all content in a SharePoint content source. After making changes to the search schema, initiate a full crawl to ensure that the changes are spread across the search index.

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Ensure you have added the column to the documents library and not the site root. Go to your documents library and click on 'Add from existing site columns to make it searchable. Choose your metadata column from the 'Available Site Columns' list and select Ok. To see if the column is now indexed, wait for 30 minutes as Sharepoint reindexes the columns every 30 minutes. For forced reindexing, go to the site Setting, click on 'Search and offline availability, and click 'Reindex site.'

Follow these steps to make your SharePoint column searchable:

1. Open the Documents library.
2. Click "Library settings".
3. Scroll down to "column".
4. Click "indexed columns" and create a new index.

Keep in mind that SharePoint re-indexes the site every 30 minutes. So, you would have to wait 30 minutes before your column is in the SharePoint searchable database. To force the re-indexing, search for Site Settings > Search and Offline Availability > Reindex the site.