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How to set up Involv News with PnP Search results?

In this article you'll learn how to configure PnP Search to set up Involv News

1. Overview 


This guide explains how to configure the PnP Search Results web part to create a fully functional Involv News feed, including search queries, filtering, display templates, styling, paging, multilingual support, and AI-powered search capabilities. 

2. What you'll learn 

By following this guide, you will learn how to:

  • Add and configure the PnP Search Results web part
  • Add the Involv Search extensibility library
  • Configure Involv News search queries
  • Customize sorting, filtering, and paging
  • Select and customize display templates
  • Configure styling and layout options
  • Enable advanced features such as caching and AI Assistant

3.Watch the interactive video 

 

4. Step-by-step-Guide 

 Step 1: Add the PnP Search Results Web Part

  1. Locate and add the PnP Search Results web part to your SharePoint page.
  2. Click Configure to open the web part settings.

Step 2: Add the Involv Search Data Source

The Involv Search Extensibility will need to be added any time a PnP Search web part is added to a page. 

Prerequisted ! Involv Search Library must be added an deployed on the site 

  1. Go to the second page of the configuration panel.
  2. Click Configure extensibility configuration.
  3. Overwrite the name and manifest GUID with the Involv details:
    • Name: Involv
    • Manifest GUID: 6ea3e6dc-eb0c-4157-aff3-46d29188ccfe

Result: The Involv Search data source will now appear in the list of available data sources.

Step 3: Configure the Search Query

  1. Select Involv Search as the data source.
  2. Choose one of the predefined queries from the dropdown list or enter a custom search template, in this particlar case choose: News as the predefined query 
    InvolvCategoryOWSCHCS:News
  3. Click Apply to execute the search.

If you would like to connect your PnP Search Results with a PnP Search box, please add 

  • {searchTerms}- placeholder for direct user input

  • or {inputQueryText}-placeholder for input coming from another connected PnP component on the same page, like a PnP Search Box

to your Query Text

Step 4: Additional Configuration of  your PnP Search webpart 

Involv Search Query 

  • Source ID - Select a built-in source ID or enter a custom GUID.

Please keep the Default: Local SharePoint results. for Involv News

  • Selected properties

Here you can selet the Managed properties which you would like to use in your search results.
By default, Title is selected, with 54 additional properties available.

  • Trim duplicates (default: Off)
  • Skip amount of results - Enter a value in the Skip Results field if you want to omit a specific number of results from the beginning of the list.
  • Sort settings — click Edit sort settings to define the order of results
    Enter the Fieldname on which you want sort your results.

    In most cases, the Managed Property 'RefinableDate05 is used for Involv News 

  • Use query string (default: Off)
  • Query string — default parameter is q (optional)
  • Categorization (default: Off)
  • Personal categories (default: Off) - 
  • Show subscribed content (default: Off) - Swithw on if you would like to only the subscribed Content (see Notification Preferences - Content Subscription)
  • Use target audience (default: Off) - Switch on if you would like to filter the results based on Target Audiences 
  • Use multilingual (default: On)- Switch on if you would like to filter the results based on the Users Language Profile 
  • Use synonyms (default: Off)- Switch on - If you would like to your Synonyms (How to use Synonyms)
  • Enable query rules (default: Off)
  • Randomize (default: Off)
  • Enable Multi Geo (default: Off)

  • Temp Sorting direction — On (ascending) or Off (descending, default)

Involv Caching 

 To enable caching, you need to make use of the Caching refiner in the PnP Filters web part. 

  • Enable dynamic caching (default: Off)
  • Cache expiration (minutes) — default: 5
Involv AI Assistant Configuration
  • Enable AI Assistant (default: Off)
  • AI Model Name — default: gpt-4o
  • AI Search Type — specify people or pages
  • People Search Prompt
  • Pages Search Prompt
  • Summary Prompt — prompt for AI when generating summaries

See How to enable AI assistant in PnP search results? for full AI configuration.

Paging options
  • Show paging (default: On) - Decide if you would like to show paging controls,
    if yes, define 
    • Number of items per page - Define how many items you would like to display on a page 
    • Number of pages to display in range (default: 5)

    • Hide navigation buttons (prev/next) (default: Off)
    • Hide first/last navigation buttons (default: Off)
    • Hide navigation buttons if disabled (default: Off)
Visibility 
  • Show in mobile and email view (default: On)

Step 5: Select a Display Template

Choose from the built-in templates or use Custom to write your own Handlebars/HTML for displaying InvolvNews

Build-in Templates for News are : Small Image on the Left, Hero template, Large Images, Carousel with template options, Carousel Full Width, Carousel, News with Template options. 

Other options are:

Edit results template

The Edit results template field shows a preview of the Handlebars/HTML. Click to open the full editor and customise the layout markup.

Result Types

Click Edit result types to define per-type rendering logic.

Selection options
  • Allow items selection (default: Off) — enable selecting individual result items
  • Use Microsoft Graph Toolkit (default: Off)

When Allow items selection is turned on, two extra toggles appear:

  • Allow multiple selection (default: Off)
  • Preserve selection on empty click (default: Off)

Step 6: Common Settings 

  • Hide this webpart if there's nothing to show (defaullt : Off)

  • Show results count (Default : On)

Step 7 - Additional Styling Options

Background Styling 
  1. Select a Results Background color
  2. Select Results Border Style and Thickness
Web Part Title Styling
  1. Open Web Part Title Styling, and define following otpions
    1. Title Font 
    2. Title font color 
  2. Show Title (Default: On)
  3. See All text : Text to display next to the Web part Title to click through to show all results 
  4. See All Url : Url Field to show all results 
  5. Open See All in a new Tab (default : Off) 

    Step 8: Further Lay-Out Options

    Choose which information should appear in the news results:

    • Show Create Icon :/ Show +icon to create new newspages 
      •  Override URL : Override the default page library URL where the new News pages are created
    • Open News Items in a new Tab 
    • Show/Hide Categories or Tags
      • Catgeories are filterable (On/Off)
    • Show/Hide Likes and Comments
    • Show/Hide Description
      • Show extra fields : define the extra managed properties to show in the description placeholder
    • Show/Hide Date
    • Show/Hide Pinned Icon
    • Show all (On/Off)
      • Show more title 
      • Show more URL

    Adjust each toggle according to your requirements.

    Step 9: Review Additional Settings

    1. Click Next to access any remaining configuration options.
    2. Review and adjust settings as needed.

    Step 10: Save and Publish

    1. Click Save and Exit.
    2. Publish or republish the SharePoint page if required.

    Congratulations! Your Involv News feed is now ready for use. 🎉