FAQ: search on Viva Engage

Get answers to your questions about searching in Engage!

Why do I see different results than my colleague for the same search?

Search results are personalized. Engage considers your community memberships, the people you interact with, and your activity history to rank results differently for each person. Two people searching for "hackathon" will see different orderings based on their individual affinity signals.

Why can't I find a post that I know exists?

There are a few possible reasons: the post might be in a private community you haven't joined, it might be deleted by the author, or it might not match your search keywords closely enough. Try different keywords, because the post might use different terminology than you expect. The meaning-matching technology helps with this, but using the author's name or the community name as a filter can help narrow things down.

How does search handle abbreviations and acronyms?

Engage search recognizes many common workplace abbreviations. For example, searching for "RTO" will find posts about "return to office." Similarly, "WFH" matches "work from home" content. For less common acronyms, try searching for the full term as well.

Can I use search operators like AND, OR, and NOT?

Yes. Engage search supports several operators to refine your queries:

AND - Requires both terms: safety AND store returns only threads containing both words.
OR - Broadens results: hackathon OR innovation returns threads about either topic.
AND NOT - Excludes terms: hackathon AND NOT 2022 removes any threads mentioning '2022'.
"Quotes" - Exact phrase: Communities in Teams matches only that exact phrase. Also use quotes to search for exact matches of community names, person names, or hashtags.
Wildcards (*) - Prefix matching: picture* matches picture, pictures, pictured, etc.
Combined - Mix operators: (hackathon OR innovation) AND 2025 finds either topic, but only from 2025.

Note: Search defaults to OR behavior - typing blue moon returns threads with either word, not just posts with both words.. Use AND when you specifically need all terms present.

Does search look at replies, or just the original post?

Search looks at both. If your query matches a reply within a thread, that thread will appear in results with the matching reply shown below the original post - highlighted to show you exactly where the match was found.

Can I search within a specific community?

Yes! Use the Posted in filter on the search results page to limit results to a specific community. You can also search from within a community's page to scope your search to that community's content.

Why do some results have replies shown and others don't?

Replies appear when they contain a match for your search terms. If only the original post (thread starter) matches, no replies are displayed in the preview. If a reply is more relevant to your query than the original post, the matching reply appears alongside it.

How recent are the search results?

Search indexes content in near real-time. A post made a few minutes ago will typically be searchable. By default, search results favor recent content. Newer posts get a natural ranking boost, but older posts with high relevance can still appear at the top.

What is the "Ask Copilot" option in the search suggestions?

When you type a query, you may see an "Ask Copilot" suggestion. Clicking it sends your question to Copilot, which generates an AI-powered answer drawn from conversations and knowledge across your Engage network. It's a great option when you're looking for a synthesized answer rather than browsing individual posts. This feature is available to M365 Copilot licensed users.

Can I scope searches to a particular community/inbox?

Yes. You can type the keywords in the search box and select “Search in Inbox” or “Search in Copilot Community” from the instant suggestions. This will show search results from the inbox or the Copilot Community.

Does search work differently on mobile?

The same search technology powers both web and mobile. The experience is optimized for smaller screens, but the ranking, matching, and personalization work identically.

I'm an admin - can I influence what appears in search?

Admins can feature conversations in their communities to boost visibility. Featured conversations may receive increased prominence in search results. Beyond that, relevance and personalization algorithms determine search ranking, and can't be manually overridden for specific posts.