Why is an article missing from my handbook search results?

You searched your handbooks in Simployer One for a word you know appears in an article, but that article didn't show up in the results. This article explains the four reasons this happens and what to check for each one. It's for employees and managers looking for content they expected to find, and for handbook administrators making sure their content can be found.

What are the main reasons an article doesn't appear in handbook search?

An article can be missing from your handbook search results for four reasons:

1. The content pack is not active. The content pack the article belongs to has not been set to active.
2. You don't have access to the handbook. The article is in a handbook you can't open.
3. The word is only in an attached document. Handbook search doesn't read attachments.
4. You're searching for something that isn't an article. Handbook search returns only articles, not topics or content packs.

Each reason is explained in its own section below, with what to check.

Why don't articles from an inactive content pack appear in handbook search?

Handbook search only covers active content packs. While a content pack is inactive, its articles aren't available to anyone, so they never appear in search results. Search follows the same rule as the rest of the handbook: content stays out of reach until an administrator makes it available.

If you are a handbook administrator:

1. Open the Handbooks Content Management overview.
2. Find the content pack the article belongs to.
3. Check the content pack's Active toggle.
4. If the content pack is not active, turn on the Active toggle.

Once the content pack is active, its articles become available and appear in handbook search results.

If you are an employee:

Ask your handbook administrator whether the content pack is active.

Note

If the content pack is active and the article still doesn't appear, Simployer may not have published that content yet. Simployer handles publishing, so a handbook administrator can't change this. Contact support and name the article you're looking for.

Why can't I find articles from a handbook I don't have access to?

Handbook search covers every handbook you have access to and nothing else. If an article is in a handbook you can't open, it won't appear when you search.

This means two people in the same organization can search for the same word and get different results. Each person only sees articles they're allowed to read.

What to check:

1. Try opening the handbook directly.
2. If you can't open it, this is an access issue, not a search issue.
3. Ask your handbook administrator to review your access to that handbook.

Why doesn't handbook search find words inside attached documents?

Handbook search reads the text of articles but not the documents attached to them. If a word appears only inside an attached PDF, Word file or spreadsheet, searching for it won't bring up the article the file is attached to.

Company Documents are not covered by handbook search either.

What to check:

• Search for a word from the article's own text instead.
• If you know the information is in an attachment, open the article you expect it to be attached to and look there.

Why doesn't handbook search return topics or content packs?

Handbook search only returns articles, and the result count on the search page counts only articles.

Topics and content packs are never returned as results. If you search for the name of a topic or content pack, you get the articles that contain that word, not the topic or content pack itself.

What to check:

• To find a specific article, search for a word from inside that article rather than the name of the topic or content pack that holds it.
• To find a whole content pack, browse to it instead of searching for it.

What should I do if an article is still missing from handbook search?

If an article is still missing after you've checked all four reasons, contact support. This applies when:

• The content pack is active
• You can open the handbook
• You searched for a word that is in the article's own text

When you contact support, include:

• The word or phrase you searched for
• The name of the article you expected to find
• The name of the handbook it belongs to

FAQs about handbook search

Where do handbook search suggestions come from?

As you type, handbook search suggests terms from all your content, however many articles your organization has. If a term appears in an article you can reach, it will be suggested.

What happens if a handbook search fails?

If something goes wrong, handbook search tells you the search didn't run. It won't show an empty list, so an error is never mistaken for "no results found".

Can I share handbook search results with a colleague?

Yes. Your search term is included in the page address. Copy the address and send it to a colleague. They'll see the same search, but the results will be filtered by their own handbook access, so they may see different articles than you.