Result types and display templates that are used to display classic search results in SharePoint Server

APPLIES TO: 2013 2016 2019 Subscription Edition SharePoint in Microsoft 365

SharePoint Server includes many default search features that do a great job in helping users find what they're looking for. But you might want your search results to look a certain way, for example, display information that's specific to your company or business. To customize how search results look and what information they contain, you can create new result types and display templates or change existing ones. This article does not describe how you can do this, but gives an overview of the default result types and display templates that are used to display search results.

About result types

When you search for something on a SharePoint site, very often many search results are returned. By default, the search results are displayed differently so that you can easily differentiate between the different types of search results. For example, just by glancing at the image below you can see that the first two search results are PowerPoint presentations, the third result is a Word document, and so on.

To display search results differently like this, search results are sorted into result types. A result type is a classification of a search result. For example, if a search result is found in a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, the search result belongs to the Microsoft PowerPoint result type. If a search result is found in a PDF file, the search result belongs to the PDF result type.

The following table shows the default result types.

How result types and display templates are connected

In a SharePoint Search Center, search results are displayed in a Search Results Web Part. To control how the search results are displayed, two types of display templates are used:

1. Item display template

2. Hover panel display template

The item display template defines how each result is displayed. The hover panel display template shows additional information when a user hovers with the mouse pointer over a search result.

The following diagram shows how result types and display templates are connected.

1. Each result type refers to an item display template.

2. Each item display template contains a variable that refers to a hover panel display template. This variable is var hoverUrl.

The following table shows how the default result types are connected to item display templates and hover panel display templates.

Common display templates that are used by all result types

In addition to the display templates that are listed in the previous section, there are some display templates that are used by all result types. These are called common display templates. The common display templates are referred to from both the item display templates and the hover panel display template. The following diagram shows how they are referenced.

1. Each item display template refers to the Common Item Body item display template. The reference is _#=ctx.RenderBody(ctx)=#_.

2. Each hover panel display template contains three references to the three common hover panel display templates. The references are _#=ctx.RenderHeader(ctx)=#_, _#=ctx.RenderBody(ctx)=#_ and _#=ctx.RenderFooter(ctx)=#_.

The following table shows the common display templates.

Display template that is used for promoted results

You can use query rules to promote individual results so that they appear towards the top of the search results list. The promoted results are displayed by using a specific item display template that is not connected to a result type. Therefore, it is used to display all search results that are promoted. This display template does not refer to a hover panel display template.

The following table shows the display template that is used for promoted results.

See also

Concepts

Customize search result types in SharePoint Server

Manage the Search Center in SharePoint Server

Manage query rules in SharePoint Server

Display template reference in SharePoint Server