Despite the improvement in SharePoint Search in 2010 compared to previous versions, SharePoint Search continues to be a vastly underutilized and underdeployed feature for rapid ROI and adoption success.  Time and again I find mid to large size implementations with Search Centers collecting dust in a corner, forgotten and neglected. 

This post focuses on a quick win for SharePoint Search which I had until recently assumed “everyone” knew about; how to quickly add the ability to sort by Modified By date to the Search Center.

The discovery that this wasn’t common knowledge came about a few weeks ago when I took a few minutes to tweak a few knobs and add sorting by Modified By date to our own company Search Center.  The response was immediate and enthusiastic.  A coworker suggested I write a blog post on how to set it up, so here we go.

Out of the Box, SharePoint sorts search results by Relevancy.  It is possible to quickly add the ability to sort by Modified Date by editing the Search Results Page using the SharePoint UI only – no Designer needed.

Step 1: Edit the Search Results.aspx page

Navigate to you SharePoint site, and enter a search term in the small search text box.  When the results appear, edit the page:

Find the Search Action Links Web Part, and Edit the Web Part: 

In the Web Part Toolbox panel, you will see the following options:

Check the Display “Relevance” View Option, and Display “Modified Date” View Option.  If desired, you can change the default sort order by changing the value of the Default Results Sorting drop down box to Relevance or Modified Date.

Click ok, and Save the Page.

The search results page will now render the Search Actions Link Web Part with a Sort Drop Down, allowing users to sorty by both Default (Relevance) and Modified By date.

Repeat for the PeopleResults.aspx search page, and you’re set.  It’s that easy!

Enjoy.