How to report a Search issue to Microsoft Support without getting it rejected!
- Kasper Larsen
- 43 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Once in a while you might have to create a Support Ticket with Microsoft Support, and if the issue is related to:
Content not showing up in Search
Mappings not taking effect
The Search index contains stale data
Then I have some do's and don'ts for you that will make it easier for you.
Do's:
Make the setup and the query as simple as possible, preferable focused on a single document or List Item.
Use a classic search web part to replicate the issue (see below on how to enable the classic web parts) OR
Use standard PowerShell OR
Use PnP.PowerShell OR
Use the Graph Explorer
In addition I will recommend that you have tried reindexing the List/Library AND the Site Collection and waited at least 2 days.
Use Get-PnPSearchCrawlLog | PnP PowerShell to prove that the item or document in question has not been reindexed resently.
Don'ts
Never ever mention PnP Modern Search or any other not-from-Microsoft tools. The Support people seems to be measured by who many cases they can handle (aka close) and they will reject your case with "this is not a MS issue, and you should contact the people on the OSS project".
So PnP Modern Search might be where the issue becomes visible, but you will have to replicate the issue using MS tools and APIs.
Do not use a Developer tenant (like from the Microsoft Developer program or similar) to replicate the issue. In most (all?) cases the MS Support will reject your request if you are not using a production tenant.
How to use a classic Search Web part
The classic search web parts needs a web part page, so step one is create such a page:
However, when you try to add a classic search web part on the page, they are not there. The Search category is missing:
The reason is that Custom Scripts are disabled on the Site Collection you are using, so you will have to enable Custom Scripts, either in the SharePoint Admin center or using PowerShell/JS or similar.
Once Custom Scripts are enabled, you will see the Search Category and can add your Search Results web part to the page.
The web part will remain visible after the Custom Scripts setting has been reset to "blocked" (happens every 24h)
Now you can add the Query that will show the issue. In this case I only get 3 results eventhough the list contains 4 items and the missing one was added 5 days ago.
Get-PnPSearchCrawlLog shows that the list was crawled 6 days ago......
I hope you found this useful and that it will make it easier for you to get your support tickets accepted and resolved!