SharePoint 2013: Exporting and Importing Search Settings

In SharePoint 2013 we can export and import search settings at the Site level. We have these options available from the UI as Site Action => Site Settings >> Search.

 

Figure 1: Importing and Exporting search settings

When we click on "Configuration Export", SharePoint downloads the "SearchConfiguration.xml" file. Actually the application page "exportsearchconfiguration.aspx" is available.

What settings are exported

The following search settings are exported:

1. Query Configuration Settings
   
   
   • Best Bets
   • Query Rule groups
   • Query Rules
   • Result Types
   • Sources
   • User Settings
     
     
2. Ranking model configuration settings
   
   
   • Ranking Models
     
3. Schema configuration settings
   
   
   • Aliases
   • Crawled Properties
   • Managed Properties
   • Mappings

What settings are not exported

The following search settings are exported:

1. Search master page if any
2. Display Templates
3. Search Web Parts
4. Customization to Search result page if any

Importing settings:

When we click on "Configuration Import", SharePoint redirect us to the "importsearchconfiguration.aspx" application page where we have the option to choose the exported "SearchConfiguration.xml" file as:

 

Figure 2: Importing search configuration

Once we start the importing process by clicking on the "Import" button as shown in the preceding figure, we are redirected to the "SearchConfig" list. There we can have the status of our import and notes, if any, as in the following screenshot.

 

Figure 3: Search config list

The search config list is a hidden list and the following are the OOB features for Fields, Content Type, List Template and List Instance respectively.

 

Figure 4: Features required for Search Config List

When these settings are useful

The following are the scenarios when these settings are useful, usually in migrations.

1. Migrating search settings from dev => QA =>PROD
2. Migrating search settings from On-Premises version to SharePoint Online (office 365) and vice versa

References: Export and import customized search configuration settings in SharePoint Server 2013

Thanks! Enjoy SharePoint.
As usual, feel free to comment with your suggestions.