Some documents are not returned in the search results when you use the Advanced Search feature in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to search for content that has a custom property

Your Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal site contains Microsoft Office documents and other documents. You use the Advanced Search feature in Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to search the portal site for content that has a custom property that contains a specific value. However, when you view the search results, you notice that some documents are not returned in the search results. For example, documents such as Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) documents are missing from the search results.

The search component in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 processes custom properties as follows:

• The custom properties of Office documents that are stored in a network file share are embedded in the Office document. The name of the custom property is stored in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 as the following:
  CustomPropertyName
  The custom property name is stored in the following name space in SharePoint Portal Server 2003:
  urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office
• The custom properties of Office documents and of other documents that are stored in a document library of a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Web site are added as custom columns. The name of the custom property is stored in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 as the following :
  ows_CustomPropertyName
  The custom property name is stored in the following name space in SharePoint Portal Server 2003:
  urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office

When SharePoint Portal Server 2003 processes Office documents, it maps a CustomPropertyName property to the ows_CustomPropertyName property. For documents other than Office documents, SharePoint Portal Server 2003 does not map a custom property that is named CustomPropertyName to the ows_CustomPropertyName property. Therefore, if you search for content that uses the CustomPropertyName property, only Office documents that are stored in network file shares are returned in the search results. If you search for content that uses the ows_CustomPropertyName property, only documents that are stored in a document library in a Windows SharePoint Services Web site are returned in the search results.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest SharePoint Portal Server 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Service pack information

This problem is corrected in Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SharePoint Portal Server 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: After you install the service pack, follow the steps that are listed in the "Add the EmitBaseProperty registry entry" section to set the EmitBaseProperty and to enable the hotfix.

Hotfix information

An update is available. After you install this update, you can configure the way that the search component in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 processes Windows SharePoint Services content that contains custom properties.

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 post-Service Pack 1 Hotfix Package November 23, 2004. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Add the EmitBaseProperty registry entry

To use this hotfix after you install it, you add the EmitBaseProperty registry entry to the following registry subkey, and then you set the registry entry to 1: To use this hotfix, follow these steps: Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Add the EmitBaseProperty registry entry to the following registry subkey, and then set the registry entry to 1:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SPSSearch\Gathering Manager
   To do this:
   1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd in the Open box, and then click OK.
   2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SPSSearch\Gathering Manager
   3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   4. Type EmitBaseProperty, and then press ENTER.
   5. Right-click EmitBaseProperty, and then click Modify.
   6. Type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
   7. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.
2. Restart the Microsoft SharePointPS Search service. To do this:
   1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
   2. Stop the Microsoft SharePointPS Search service. To do this, type net stop sharepointpssearch at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
   3. Start the Microsoft SharePointPS Search service. To do this, type net start sharepointpssearch at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

When you set the EmitBaseProperty registry entry to 1, the search component in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 processes custom properties where the names start with "ows_" just like it processes a CustomPropertyName property. If you do not want SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to process custom properties this way, set the EmitBaseProperty registry entry zero, or remove the EmitBaseProperty registry entry.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

This problem was first corrected in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

For more information about how to configure search settings in SharePoint Portal Server 2003, see the "Managing Search Settings" section of the "Administration" chapter in the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide. The Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administration Guide (Administrator's Help.chm) is located in the Docs folder in the root of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 CD.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.