Remove scope dropdown from OSSSearchResults.aspx in SharePoint MOSS

Question

When searching in SharePoint the results are returned to a page called OSSSearchResults.aspx.

This page has a scope dropdown for the search i.e. Site:Departments

How can I remove this scope so that the whole site collection is always searching, irrespective of the site I am within?

All the best

Answer 1

This is the search page of Windows SharePoint Services V3.0 search and it is pretty much set in stone. It is not as flexible as a MOSS 2007 search center where you can customize the search web parts, search scopes and much more. WSS search only allows you to search single sites and sub-sites. Cross site search is not supported - you will need an Enterprise Search solution to do that.

Now, I guess you do not want or need to invest in MOSS 2007. But you could consider setting up a new Search Server 2008 Express (free) next to your WSS server. This gives you Enterprise search capabilities at a low cost. Let the MSS 2008 index all your WSS site collections and let the users search from a search center site on the MSS 2008 server.

One downside, however, is the small search box on your WSS sites will still point to the OSSSearchResults.aspx page. You will need to install another search box to direct users to the MSS 2008 search center.

Answer 2

Hey Lars

We are actually running MOSS 2007, so does that affect your answer?

Thanks Again

Answer 3

You could edit the file directly, although this is not a recommended practice. The file is found in \12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\osssearchresults.aspx and the control in question is in line 97:

<SPSWC:SearchBoxEx id="SearchBox" runat="server" 
          GoImageUrl="/_layouts/images/gosearch.gif" 
          GoImageUrlRTL="/_layouts/images/gosearch.gif" 
          DropdownModeEx=ShowDD_DefaultURL
          ScopeDisplayGroupName = ""
          FrameType="None" 
          ShouldTakeFocusIfEmpty=true />

Answer 4

Hi, you can disable contextual scope via Sharepoint's configuration. I had similar problem, which is described here. Im my case I needed to redirect from OSSSearchResults page to Search center or just disable those scopes which redirect to this page. Sample of configuration with some explanation can be found here

Hope that helps

Answer 5

Hi Guys

Trys some simple Javascript to set the value and dynamically hide the drop down. Job done!

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
var objDDL = document.getElementById("ctl00_g_edb49d82_8042_45e7_b0f7_2fa3fbed4ae6_SBScopesDDL");
if( objDDL ) {
 objDDL.selectedIndex = 0;
 objDDL.style.display="none";
}

Answer 6

Simply inherit this class from core.css into your theme:

SELECT.ms-searchbox{ visibility:hidden; }

Then the select will be gone.

Enjoy !