Add, edit, or delete a content source in SharePoint Server

  • Article

APPLIES TO: yes-img-132013 yes-img-162016 yes-img-192019 yes-img-seSubscription Edition no-img-sopSharePoint in Microsoft 365

A content source is a set of options that you use to specify what, when, and how to crawl.

When a Search service application is created, a content source named "Local SharePoint sites" is automatically created and configured for crawling all SharePoint Server sites in the local server farm. You can create additional content sources to specify other content to crawl and how the system should crawl that content. After you create a content source, you can edit or delete it at any time.

Caution

Changing a content source requires a full crawl for that content source.

Before you begin

Before you begin this operation, see the following article for information about prerequisites regarding the creation of content sources:

Create, edit, or delete a content source

To get to the Manage Content Sources page

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is an administrator for the Search service application.

  2. On SharePoint Server Central Administration home page, navigate to Application Management > Manage service applications > Search service application.

  3. On the Search Administration page, under Crawling, select Content Sources.

To create a content source

  1. On the Manage Content Sources page, select New Content Source.

  2. On the Add Content Source page, under Name, type a name for the new content source in the Name box.

  3. Under Content Source Type, select the type of content that you want to crawl.

  4. Under Start Addresses, type the URLs from which the crawler should begin crawling in the Type start addresses below (one per line) box.

  5. Under Crawl Settings, select the crawling behavior that you want.

  6. Under Crawl Schedules, to specify a schedule for full crawls, select a defined schedule from the Full Crawl list. A full crawl involves crawling all content that is specified by the content source, regardless of whether the content has changed. To define a full crawl schedule, select Create schedule.

  7. To specify a schedule for incremental crawls, select a defined schedule from the Incremental Crawl list. An incremental crawl involves crawling content that is specified by the content source that has changed since the last crawl. To define a schedule, select Create schedule. You can change a defined schedule by selecting Edit schedule.

    Note

    For a content source that is of type SharePoint Server sites, you can enable continuous crawls. For more information, see Manage continuous crawls in SharePoint Server.

  8. To set the priority of this content source, under Content Source Priority, select Normal or High from the Priority list.

  9. Select OK.

To edit a content source

  1. You can edit a content source to change the schedule on which the content is crawled, the crawl start addresses, the content source priority, or the name of the crawl. Crawl settings and content source type cannot be changed when you edit a content source.

  2. On the Manage Content Sources page, in the list of content sources, point to the name of the content source that you want to edit, click the arrow that appears, and then select Edit.

  3. After you make the changes that you want, select OK.

To delete a content source

  1. On the Manage Content Sources page, in the list of content sources, point to the name of the content source that you want to delete, click the arrow that appears, and then select Delete.

  2. Select OK to confirm that you want to delete this content source.

Starting with the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition Version 23H2 feature update, you have the ability to configure the HTTP protocol version that applications would use to search your content sources.

Note

By default, the search service application search crawler uses the HTTP 1.1 protocol version. The search crawler will use the HTTP 1.0 protocol version when configured so.

You can configure an HTTP protocol version to be applicable to specific content sources. These HTTP protocol versions can be configured only by using the following cmdlets:

  • New-SPEnterpriseSearchCrawlContentSource
  • Set-SPEnterpriseSearchCrawlContentSource

When you use these PowerShell cmdlets, you can specify the HttpProtocol parameter with the following options:

  • Default: This option refers to the system default one, currently HTTP 1.1.
  • Http_1_0: This option refers to the HTTP 1.0 protocol.
  • Http_1_1: This option refers to the HTTP 1.1 protocol.