Change settings for the Search Box Web Part
The Search Box Web Part shows a text box where users can enter words or phrases to search for information. By default, the Search Box Web Part is used on the home page for the Search Center (default.aspx), and all default search results pages (Everything, People, Conversations, and Videos).
As a SharePoint Administrator or above in Microsoft 365, you can change settings in the Search Box Web Part. You can:
Change where the search results should be displayed — for example, show results in a custom Search Results Web Part or a custom search results page.
Turn off query suggestions.
Show links to a search preference page and an advanced search page.
Change the display template that is used for the Web Part.
Change where search results are displayed
On the Search Center site home page, click the Settings menu, and then click Edit Page.
In the Web Part, click the Search Box Web Part Menu arrow, and then click Edit Web Part.
In the Search Box tool pane, under Properties for Search Box, expand Which search results page should queries be sent to.
To use the settings that are defined on the Search Settings page, select the Use this site's Search Settings check box.
To override the settings that are defined on the Search Settings page, clear the Use this site's Search Settings check box.
To show search results in a Web Part on the page, in the section Send queries to other Web Parts on this page, select a Web Part.
Note
If there are no other Web Parts on a page, search results will be sent to the search results page that is specified on the Search Settings page.
To send queries to a different search results page, select Send queries to a custom results page URL, and then type the URL of the custom search results page.
Note
You can't send queries to a custom search results page that uses a friendly URL.
- Click OK.
Change settings for query suggestions
As a SharePoint Administrator or above in Microsoft 365, you can turn off or on query suggestions or edit the different settings for query suggestions. Query suggestions are turned on by default.
On the Search Center site home page, click the Settings menu, and then click Edit Page.
In the Web Part, click the Search Box Web Part Menu arrow, and then click Edit Web Part.
In the Search Box tool pane, under Properties for Search Box, expand the Query Suggestions section.
To turn off query suggestions, clear the Show suggestions check box.
To change how many query suggestions to show, type the maximum number in the Number of query suggestions box.
To change how many characters the user must type before query suggestions are shown, edit the number in the Minimum number of characters box.
To change how many milliseconds elapse before query suggestions are shown, edit the number in the Suggestions delay (in milliseconds) box.
- Click OK.
Show links or change the display template
On the Search Center site home page, click the Settings menu, and then click Edit Page.
In the Web Part, click the Search Box Web Part Menu arrow, and then click Edit Web Part.
In the Search Box tool pane, under Properties for Search Box, expand the Settings section:
To show a link to a search preference page, select Show preferences link.
To show a link to an advanced search page, select Show advanced link, and then in the Advanced search page URL box, type the URL of the advanced search page that you want to link to.
To apply another display template, in the Search box control Display Template list, select the display template that you want to apply to the Web Part.
Select the Make the search box have focus when the page is loaded check box so that users can immediately type a query in the search box when the page is loaded without first having to click the search box. This option is selected by default.
- Click OK.
See also
Manage the Search Center in SharePoint
Change settings for the Search Navigation Web Part