The knowledge base search allows users to search through the content of files uploaded as article attachments. As a knowledge manager, you want to attach some files to your knowledge base articles that provide detailed information or a case study. These attachments are not just displayed with articles in front-end, but can also be made searchable by enabling the "Search Attached Files" setting. Some file types can be searched without any advanced tools, while others need to be indexed by using PHP modules or free third-party plugins.
Search attachments feature reduce the re-work of typing the attachment contents in articles, you can just upload a file and get it indexed on the fly. The attached documents become searchable like any other piece of data in your knowledge base. When a user search for a term, the search engine also looks for the keyword in indexed attachments. If the search term matches an attachment, the attachment title with link to the corresponding knowledge base article is also provided.
In the screenshot above, user searched for term "article", the knowledge base software has shown all the articles having the keyword along with matching file attachments that contain the search keywords in the title/content of the attached files.
Document formats supported:
- MS Word Documents: .doc, .docx
- MS Excel Workbooks: .xls, .xlcx
- MS PowerPoint Presentations: .ppt, .pptx
- Adobe PDF Documents: .pdf
- TXT Documents: .txt, .htm, .html, .csv and .xml
Enabling Indexing for Article Attachments:
With PHPKB knowledge base software, make your documents searchable like any other piece of data in your knowledge base. Moreover, they are also easily downloadable since they are stored as-is.
To set up the attachment search in your knowledge base:
- Open Manage Settings section.
- Scroll down to the "SEARCH SETTINGS" section of Miscellaneous Settings.
- Enable the "Search Attached Files".
- Set the indexing plugins for the file types which you want to make searchable.
Some documents can be searched without any advanced tools, while others need PHP modules enabled or installed plugins. Refer to the article "Indexing Attachments" for detailed instructions on the indexing plugin installation.
- Click Save.
After enabling the attachment search indexing, the intelligent search engine of PHPKB knowledge management software extracts the text of any attached files. When users perform a search, the system also returns the results whose attachments match the search expression.
Updating the search content of attachments:
Upgrades, Hotfixes, changes in policies etc., arise the need to upload the modified attachment files, which necessitate the update of the search contents of updated files. In the PHPKB knowledge management tool, if you have enabled the "Automatic Attachment Indexing", you should not worry about re-indexing your files. Just upload the updated file from add/edit article screen, and the system will re-index them automatically on the fly. However, if you are updating the file directly in asset manager or through a file manager or the setting is not enabled, you can re-index the attachments from "Tools">>"Index Attachments".
PHPKB software's attachment indexing mechanism is smart enough to auto-detect the script timeout value of your server and advises on how many files should be indexed at a time to prevent script timeout issues.
