Searching Across Organization Units
Overview
In Brightspace, you can search for content within specific organization units (orgs) beyond just courses. Follow the steps below to learn how to search within non-course orgs, customize your search scope, and manage indexing for accurate results.
Steps for Searching Non-Course Orgs
1. Navigate to Org Unit Editor:
•Go to the Settings gear and select Org Unit Editor.
2. Select an Organization Unit:
•Choose the organization unit you wish to search in, and click on the org’s name.
3. Access the Homepage:
•From the org settings page, click on Homepage.
•If the search bar is not visible, you may need to add it to the navigation.
4. Default Search Scope:
•By default, the search targets courses within the selected org, limiting search results to content within the org’s courses.
5. Expand the Search Scope:
•To search across all organization units you belong to, switch the scope to My Orgs. This option allows you to search all orgs, including non-course orgs.
Indexing Non-Course Content
The first time you perform a search in a non-course org, a banner will appear under the search filter controls with the message:
“This is searching only the courses within this org. Would you like to include the content of this org as well?”
•Start Indexing: Clicking the button in the banner will begin indexing the org’s content (including non-course content). The banner will update to show the indexing status and can be dismissed.
•Reindexing: After indexing begins, a Reindex button becomes available in the 3-dot menu, similar to course searches. You will also see a new search scope called Content in this org.
•Subsequent Searches: Once indexing is complete, this expanded search scope remains available, and the banner will no longer appear. The Reindex button will remain accessible for manual updates to the content index.
Displaying Non-Course Org Types in Search Results
If your search includes content from a non-course org, the type of org will be displayed in parentheses before the org name. This helps distinguish between different content sources within the search results.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you can refine your search to include content beyond courses in specific organization units. This will help you locate the information you need more efficiently within Brightspace’s non-course orgs.