Who is this article for?

Admins who want to learn to configure a SharePoint search schema.

Administrator permissions are required with tenant-level access.

The Administration Client includes a tool for configuring the SharePoint Search Schema with email-specific columns. This enables users to view, search, sort and filter email metadata in the Search application. This article answers frequently asked questions about the SharePoint Search Schema.

How long does the entire process take?

The wizard steps themselves take only a few minutes. However, SharePoint's crawling and indexing process can take anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours depending on your tenant's crawl schedule and current search workload.

What if I don't have an available RefinableDate property?

The wizard will notify you if no RefinableDate properties are available. You may need to review your current search schema configuration and free up a RefinableDate property, or contact Microsoft support to request additional refinable properties for your tenant.

Can I run this wizard multiple times?

Yes. If you need to re-deploy the seed folder or regenerate the configuration file, you can run the wizard again. If the configuration is already imported, the wizard will detect existing mappings in Step 4.

What happens to the seed folder after configuration?

The Seed Folder (.ideagenmailmanager-search) must remain in your library. It is hidden from the standard views and does not impact normal operations, as it only contains sample data. If you delete it, you would need to re-run the wizard to re-create it.

Do I need to configure this for each site collection?

No. The Email Search Schema is configured at the tenant level and applies across all site collections. You only need to run the wizard once per tenant.

Will this affect existing email columns in my libraries?

No. The wizard only configures the search schema for email metadata. Your existing email columns and saved emails are not modified.