SharePoint - Allow misspelt searched to return results & use suggestive fill on search bar

Question

Hello,

two questions both of which revolve around the search functionality in SharePoint.

At the moment i have three sites, one of which is a hub site and the other two are connected to that hub. If i search for something with an incorrect spelling i get the 'we couldn't find any results for' message. I have read that in previous version of SharePoint if you misspelt a rod in the search it would return results with a 'did you mean' suggestion Manage query spelling correction in SharePoint Server - SharePoint Server | Microsoft Learn but this doesn't seem to be a function for SharePoint in Microsoft 365. Is there a way to return the search bar so that it will give suggested results close to what has been typed?

Secondly, I would like the search bar to give suggestive text based on what the user is typing, with previews of the pages etc appearing below the search bar before the user has to press enter to list all results, is this something that can be done with SharePoint?

Answer 1

Hi @Anonymous ,

Good days! Welcome to Q&A forum!

For your first question:

By default, Microsoft Search in SharePoint Online is managed by Microsoft and may not show “did you mean” suggestions like earlier on‑premises versions. However, you can work around this limitation by creating custom query rules.

Please follow the steps below:

1. Sign in to the SharePoint admin center as a global or SharePoint administrator.
2. In the left navigation, select More features.
3. Click Manage Query Rules.
4. Click New query rule.
5. Create a query rule based on your needs and save the test.

Although this method does not "autocorrect" the query, it can improve your experience to some extent because Microsoft Search in Microsoft 365 does not provide full control over spelling correction.

For your second question:

There is currently no OOTB way to achieve this in SharePoint, and custom development using SPFX is required. The forum is currently more dedicated to solving general problems in SharePoint, and custom development for a full feature is not supported. If you are not good at development, you can consider going to the Partner Center for a customized experience.

Finally, if these features are not so urgent for you, you can submit feedback for them. This is the best platform to let us hear from you and make our products and services better for you and others. Microsoft values its customer feedback and a lot of features have been developed and suggested by customers via feedback.

I appreciate your patience and understanding.

Hope this information helps.

Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

Kindly consider accepting the answer if the information provided is helpful. This can assist other community members in resolving similar issues.