Search
1. What it is
Search is the results page behind the search box at the top of every page. It
looks across the MangoApps apps a person can already open — policies, SOPs,
wikis, files, people, shifts, tasks, forms and the rest — and groups what it
finds by where it lives. On the Platform Enterprise edition it also reaches the systems
your company keeps outside MangoApps.
The page answers in three ways at once. A live answer comes straight from
records when the words name one fact (“pto balance”, “who’s on call”). An AI
overview summarises what your documents say, with citations. The ranked
results sit underneath.
- Enablement: every paid plan includes Search, and nobody has to turn it on
for a search to run. Anyone signed in gets the search box and the results
page. What the licence governs is the app’s own pages — Saved searches, My
connections and the admin pages — and whether Search appears in the side
navigation. - What it is not: Search is not Ask AI. Search hands back rows a person can
open; Ask AI is a conversation. The results page has an “Ask AI about…”
button, but they are separate apps with separate switches. - Not an index: every external search runs live, as the person searching.
Nothing from your external systems is copied, indexed or cached.
2. Standing it up
- Go to Search → Settings and read Areas that feed search: ninety
areas under five headings, every one on. Turn one off only to keep it out of
results company-wide; it stays findable inside its own app. - Teach Search your shorthand at Search → Synonyms. One click adds a
starter set (PTO, OOO, WFH, SOP and similar), or import a list as a file. - Pin the answers you already know people miss at Search → Promoted
results. A promoted result becomes the first row for the words you choose
and is labelled Promoted. - On the Platform Enterprise edition, register external systems at Search → Sources,
one entry per system instance. Use Test before you tell anyone. - Tell your people to connect. Each person connects their own account once at
Search → My connections, and from then on their searches also ask that
system, as them. - Confirm it worked: run a search yourself, then check Search → Analytics
a few days later. Load Sample Data at the bottom of Search →
Settings fills Analytics with a few weeks of activity meanwhile.
Things that silently do nothing until a second thing is also set:
- A registered source with nobody connected returns nothing. Registering a
source is the admin half; each person still has to connect their own account.
The Sources page shows how many people have connected to each one. - The AI overview needs three switches on, not one: Search’s own Show an
AI overview above results, the Ask AI app published to that person, and Ask
AI’s own company-knowledge switch. Turning any of them off removes the card. - The Wikis, Libraries and Drive rows on the settings page are the same
switch those apps show in their own settings. There is one switch, shown in
two places; turning it off in either place turns it off in both. - The My connections tab only appears once an admin has registered at least
one source — and only on the Platform Enterprise edition.
3. How it fits together
Areas and sections
An area is what you switch on and off: one app or platform surface, listed
on the settings page. A section is what a person sees: one group of results
on the page, headed by where the rows live.
Worked example. Leave is a single area on the settings page. Someone searching
holiday sees separate groups on the results page for the holiday calendar,
the leave policy and the holiday list — three sections, one area. Switching the
Leave area off removes all of them at once.
A live answer and an AI overview are different things
A live answer is a fact read from live records — a leave balance, the next
shift, who is on call, the next holiday, whether the person is clocked in, the
manager’s name, open tasks — shown as a card with the button to act on it. No
AI is involved, and it is only as right as the records behind it.
An AI overview is a short summary of what company documents say, with
numbered citations. It loads a moment after the rest of the page, so results
never wait for it. When a live answer already answers, no overview is shown.
Best match, Top results, and the sections
Best match is the single strongest row across every section, shown as a
card, and only when the match is confident enough to earn it. Top results
is the short ranked list under it, drawn from across the sections so one noisy
area cannot fill it. Every section still renders in full below.
Ranking only reorders rows a person could already open. It never widens what
someone sees. Each ranked row can carry a small chip saying why it ranks —
Yours, You acknowledged this, Your team, Your location, Promoted, People here
open this, Meaning match, Review overdue, Takes effect (a date).
Search and Ask AI read the same trust facts about a source. A page past its
expiry date is left out of Search, as Ask AI leaves it out of answers. An entry
that takes effect on a later date is still found, labelled Takes effect with
its date, ranked below what applies today, and never the Best match.
External results are ranked alongside everything else, but a bare external
title is never the Best match — there is no text behind it to judge.
Meaning matches
A meaning match is a row found because it means the same thing, not because
the words matched — a Spanish query finding an English SOP, or “time off rules”
finding the leave policy. Meaning matches are ranked with everything else and
labelled; they are never a section of their own.
Synonyms and promoted results do different jobs
A synonym widens what a query matches, everywhere: teach Search that FY
means Fiscal Year and every area matches both. A promoted result changes
nothing about matching — it pins one page or link to the top for the words you
choose. Use a synonym for a different word; use a promotion for a page that
exists but keeps losing.
Sources and connections
A source is the company’s registration of one external system, created by
an admin with the credentials to reach it. A connection is one person’s own
sign-in to that source. Disconnecting removes one person’s sign-in; deleting a
source removes everyone’s.
Saved searches and recent searches
A saved search is kept on the server: the query, its filters, a name, and
optionally a daily or weekly alert. A recent search is the last few things
typed on that device — never shared and never aggregated.
Search as and Answer as
Search as shows an admin what one named person would find in the search
box. It shows titles by area and nothing more. Private areas such as notes, HR
files and pay are counted but never listed, and you cannot act on anything
from it.
Answer as is its twin for Ask AI: what Ask AI would answer that person
from company knowledge, and why each source was used or left out. Nothing is
saved to their Ask AI history.
Worked example. Priya asks “How much paid time off do I get?” and gets a
different answer from you. Answer as shows her answer, then gives each source a
reason — Used in the answer, Not visible to this person, Expired,
Not in effect yet. Her own AI Notepad notes and tasks are only counted.
It covers company-knowledge answers only; the app assistants Ask AI falls back
to are not run. If the person cannot open Ask AI, or company-knowledge answers
are switched off, it says so instead of showing an answer.
Business admins can use both. Every use is recorded in the audit log with your
name, the person, the question, the sources and the time.
4. Running it
Fix the searches that find nothing
- Open Search → Analytics and pick a period.
- Read the zero-result list — the searches people ran that returned nothing.
- From any row, choose Add synonym… (prefilled with the nearest search
that did work) or Promote… (prefilled with the words that failed). - Watch the trend chart; the same search should stop appearing.
Once a week, admins also get an Inbox notice listing the searches people keep
running and opening nothing for.
Check what one person can find, or would be told
- Open Search → Search as for the search box, or Search → Answer as
for Ask AI. - Pick the person and type what they searched or asked. On Answer as, choose
Ask as them. - On Search as, read the areas that returned something. A missing row usually
means an area is switched off, or a permission in the owning app. On Answer
as, read Why each source.
Keep an external source working
Each source shows its last test result and how many people have connected.
Admins get an Inbox notice when a source starts failing for everyone — usually
a rotated secret or a changed host. Disabling a source hides it everywhere but
keeps everyone’s sign-ins, so re-enabling is instant.
Curate promoted results over time
A promoted result can have a start and end date, so a seasonal page can be
pinned for open enrolment and stand down by itself. Any promotion can also be
paused and resumed without deleting it.
5. Settings
All of these live at Search → Settings, which admins and Search app admins
can open.
| Setting | Where | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Areas that feed search | Search → Settings | All on | Switches one app or surface out of results for everyone. It stays findable inside its own app. Reset to defaults turns them all back on. |
| Include archived content | Search → Settings | Off | Archived wikis, workspaces and direct message threads appear, marked Archived, and only to people who could still open them. |
| Include deactivated people | Search → Settings | Off | Former employees appear in People results, marked Deactivated. “People who can help” stays current staff only. |
| Exclude file types from results | Search → Settings | Nothing excluded | Keeps Images, Video, Audio, Archives or Design files out of file results. Each stays findable inside its own app. |
| Show an AI overview above results | Search → Settings | On | Removes the AI summary card without touching Ask AI itself. |
| Skip content with an open governance finding | Search → Settings | Off | The overview will not cite a page, policy, file or wiki that Content Governance has flagged — stale, ownerless, broken links, review overdue — until the finding is resolved. |
| Keep search activity for | Search → Settings | 90 days | How long search terms and result clicks are kept to power Analytics and ranking. Results themselves are never stored. The questions asked through Search as and Answer as leave the audit log after the same period; the record of who looked at whom stays. |
| Let Search app admins use “Search as” and “Answer as” | Search → Settings | Off | Hands Search as and Answer as to delegated Search app admins. Business admins always have both. Only a business admin can change it. |
| Enable the Search Admin Agent | Search → Settings | Off | Lets admins ask Ask AI to report on search, run Search as or Answer as for a named person, and make three confirmed changes: add a synonym, promote a result, switch an area in or out. |
| Route Search admin notices to this group | Search → Settings | Every business administrator | Sends the failing-source alert and the weekly nudge to a named group instead of the whole administrator roster. Search app admins are always kept. |
| Send the weekly zero-click nudge | Search → Settings | On | Monday morning Inbox notice listing searches at least two people ran five or more times in the last 30 days and opened nothing for. This switch is the only way to stop it — it has no per-person off switch. |
6. More help
- Search FAQ — filters, limits, external
sources, and what to do when a search does not find what someone expected - Ask AI — the assistant answers Search questions from these articles