Disabling the Sorting of Search Results by Their Relevance

Note: This content is no longer updated. For the latest content, please go to the user guide for M-Files Online. For information on the supported product versions, refer to our lifecycle policy.

By default, M-Files sorts search results by their relevance. For more information on how document relevance in relation to the search term is determined, see Search result sorting.

Note: You need M-Files Named Value Manager for distributing some of the settings. For downloading the application as well as for instructions on using it, see the document Distributing Vault-Specific Registry Settings from M-Files Server.

This behavior can be prevented so that search results are sorted by user preference instead. Make the following changes on the M-Files Server computer to prevent search results to be automatically sorted by their relevance:

  1. Open M-Files Named Value Manager.
  2. Use the Server drop-down menu to select the M-Files server and then the Vault drop-down menu to select the document vault.
  3. Use the Storage Type drop-down menu to select the MFConfigurationValue storage.
  4. In the Namespace field, enter the following value: M-Files.Core.Listing.SearchResults
  5. Click Add... to add a new key.
  6. In the left-side pane, double-click New Named Value Key and enter the following value: RememberSearchResultsSortingCriteria
  7. Select the newly added key, and in the right-side pane, enter the following value: true
    Your configuration in M-Files Named Value Manager should now be similar to the example shown below.
  8. Click Save and then close M-Files Named Value Manager if you no longer need it.
  9. Optional: If you use the classic M-Files Web, make the following registry change on the M-Files server computer:
    Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Motive\M-Files\<version>\Server\MFWA\Sites\1\Vaults\<vault GUID>\Configurations
    Value name DefaultSearchSortPropertyID
    Value type REG_SZ
    Description The ID of the property by which search results are sorted.
    Value <no value> Empty the value to disable the sorting of search results by their relevance in M-Files Web.
  10. Use Windows Task Manager to restart the MFServer service:
    1. Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.
      Result:The Task Manager window is opened.
    2. Open the Services tab.
    3. Right-click the MFServer service and select Restart.
M-Files no longer forces search results to be sorted by their relevance, and therefore users can change the column by which search results are sorted and the user preference is retained in subsequent searches.