The Search function allows users to search and find resources, activities & courses on the site for any course they have already enrolled themselves into, while also allowing for other courses to be included under certain circumstances.
Setup
You can find all relevant settings for the Search function by heading to the "Site Administration" area and then entering "Search" into the Site Administration Search function. This will then display all settings needed to first of all index the entire sites data and to also enable and limit what can be found within the search criteria.
You will first of all need to begin to index your site and allow the search area to be able to find the requested searched criteria by scrolling down until you find the settings displayed below.
The settings will need to be changed to:
Index when disabled - Yes
Indexing time limit - 2 minutes
Searchable courses - Search within enrolled courses only - This setting is default and will allow users to view only content contained within currently enrolled courses
- Search within all courses the user can access - This setting is explained below
The next step will require the information held on the site that is currently part of the indexing to be checked and changes made if necessary.
You will be able to click on "Index Data" for step 4 and head to a full list of all information currently held and available within the search function, if changes need to be made then you only need to click on the eyeball next to the particular setting. The "User" data is right at the bottom of the list and is usually a good recommendation to disable this particular information at the very least.
Once these settings have been setup and saved the indexing of the total site can typically take between 24-48 hours to automatically complete.
Search within all courses the user can access
This setting active within the "Searchable Courses" area will enable the ability for users to access courses they are not already enrolled into, however there are certain conditions for this setting to be active and also needing users to manually enrol themselves to the course they have accessed via the "Search Function".
All courses that you would like to be visible to all users on the system through the "Search Function" will need to have "Guest Access Enabled" prior to the resources, activities and the course itself being visible through the search function.
This requires you to first head into the course that you wish to be made available for the users to access via the search, either through the dashboard or the "Manage Courses & Categories" within the "Site Administration" area. You will then need to head to the settings within the course by clicking on the "Cog" in the top right of the screen and then clicking on the "More..." button.
This will then take you to a screen within the settings where you will need to select the "Users" tab and then click on the text "Enrolment Methods".
You will then see the 3 main enrolment methods in use for the particular course and should also be able to see the "Guest" method is currently greyed out and disabled, of which you will need to click on the eyeball icon to the right and "Enable" this access method to the course in order for it to appear within the "Search Function".
The course will now be visible to users via the "Search Function", but this will not automatically enrol them into the course itself just by accessing. The user will then need to click the "Cog" in the top right of the course and select "Enrol me in this course" in order for all tracking and data to be correctly linked within the course ideally before any attempts on activities are made.
This process would need to be repeated to setup all courses that you require within the search to be found if this is an important aspect to your organisation, but please bear in mind that users will need to be informed that if they do enter new courses via the "Search Function" using the method outlined they must enrol into the course themselves manually.