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Anyone Else Experiencing Issues with Quick Search Returning Null When Project Exists?

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Level 1
Our instance of WorkFront's Quick Search* is currently unreliable. After years of quickly returning projects using our internal code in the name, it now is unreliable. What I have found is 2/3 of quick searches return nothing (null), even when the project has been created, The current workaround for our team is to use advanced search. It's a problem for our team since the experienced users are not always remembering the workaround. When the project is not found, some are creating duplicate projects, a process that takes 10-15 minutes with our custom forms and templates. Then there are two projects, often at different points in task progressions and with different document collections. Consolidating project versions is not fun. Most users are in the old environment, we're beta testing the new environment I just checked with the Help Desk. They say we are the only report of this issue. Is anyone else experiencing issues with Quick Search results? *Quick Search is the search box that appears on the top of many pages in WorkFront, You'll know it by the magnifying glass. All the best, Lori Lighton
14 Replies

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Community Advisor
Hi Lori, Yes, I noticed yesterday that a project I knew existed did not come back in the quick search, which (it seems) is because the Project Status was (incorrectly) marked as Dead/Cancelled. Yet another reason I almost exclusively prefer the Advanced Search (which is at the bottom of the quick search's magnifying glass arrow). Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore

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Level 8
Hi Lori, Doug...looks like this is a Known Issue: Searching for an item in the quick Search field results in no items returned . From the notice, looks like it is only affecting Cluster 3. Terry Hynd EBSCO Information Services

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Level 10
I've also experienced this and so have a couple of my users. We're in Cluster 1. I tried to open a ticket, but it corrects itself after a certain amount of time so it's difficult to repeat and so basically we're just keeping an eye on it.

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Level 10
Yeah they also told me they had no other reports of this. I think there is a disconnect at their Helpdesk.

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Level 3
Yes!!! Thank you for creating this thread. I thought I was losing my mind. We've had several instances of this happen and our users are creating internal help tickets to our team (system admins). I have a ticket open with support, but it seems when they login to our instance, the search works for them. It's quite frustrating. We're on cluster 5. Amber Dallapiazza The Home Depot

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Level 2
Yes, we have the same problems! And we are still working on the integration of Workfront in our company. It is pretty annoying, as currently I have many training sessions with the department managers to convince them integrating the tool into their processes and one of the functionalities that is easy to find for them and that I can't ignore or work around in the training is not behaving as expected. Does anyone know when this will be fixed? Or have a good workaround regarding specific search references that work? Laura Rackwitz

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Community Advisor
Hi Laura, I suggest you switch to the Advanced Search, which is at the bottom of the quick search's magnifying glass arrow. In addition to returning the correct results, it also offers filter, view, grouping and sorting options, making it my preferred search method. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore

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Level 1
Hi Lori, yes sometimes the search needs to be re-indexed. When that happens, we use the search specific feature where you select the project, task, issues, etc, to do the search. This usually works. I would suggest you ask them to re-index for you. Paula Mitchell

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Level 2
We too have had this happen periodically but, as Vic said, it is hard to replicate for Workfront IT because the issue corrects itself. Thank you for reporting it! Trudie Gauerke

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Level 4
Yes, there are major problems with search in general. It's extremely frustrating for our users, especially compliance when they need to review a previously approved document. It causes way more work for us as we have to find the documents for them and try to keep them happy. Jennifer Miklasz

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Level 2
Hi Lori and All, My name is Joel Pettigrew and I'm a principal product manager here at Workfront. I'm going to reach out to a few of you and find out a little more information. We are working on fixing reporting with a new backend that will make the results a lot more relevant... but that work hasn't been completed or deployed yet. This sounds like a backend bug that might be causing the issue I don't want to make any assumptions before diving in... but I'm looking into it. Thanks, Joel Joel Pettigrew Workfront

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Level 4
Hi Joel, Thanks for contacting me. The quick search does not always yield the correct or any results for some previously approved documents. This has happened many times. When I contact support, I was told it would be fixed in early 2020. This could a bit to do with user's ability, but it's mainly the search. thanks Jennifer Jennifer Miklasz

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Level 6
Hi, This is continuing to get worse for us. I direct people to the Advanced Search, but that even seems inconsistent for some of us. We are also on Cluster 5. thanks Brian Brian C. Mauger

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Former Community Member
I've had this same issue since changing over to the beta experience. I love the new experience, but it is extremely difficult to find anything through the search. Even when I use the /project it doesn't seem to yield the proper results. Thanks for bringing it up! Carrie Nunemaker Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts