Editing a Rule That Includes or Excludes Content

You can edit a rule to include specific paths in the content index, to exclude specific paths from the index, to specify how SharePoint lists are handled, or to provide a specific account to access a specific path. For more information about rules that include or exclude content, see About Rules That Include or Exclude Content.

Note  You cannot change the path for an existing rule. If you want to change the path, you must delete the rule and create a new rule.

Edit a rule that includes or excludes content

1. On the Site Settings page, in the Manage Search Settings and Indexed Content section, click Configure search and indexing.
2. On the Configure Search and Indexing page, in the General Content Settings and Indexing Status section, click Exclude and Include Content.
3. On the Exclude and Include Content page, rest the pointer on the rule or group of rules, and then click the arrow that appears.
4. On the menu that appears, click Edit.
5. On the Edit Rule page, in the Crawl Configuration section, do one of the following:
   • To exclude all documents in this path, click Exclude all items in this path.

     If you select this option, when the search component encounters a resource within this space, it will neither crawl the resource nor follow links contained within the resource.

   • To include all documents in this path, click Include all items in this path.

     If you select this option, you can also do the following:

     • To suppress the inclusion in the index of items in this path but allow content to be crawled to find linked content that can be included in the index, select the Suppress inclusion in the content index check box.
     • To follow complex links, which includes additional content in the content index by including links with parameters after a question mark in the URL, select the Follow complex links check box.

6. If the path contains SharePoint lists, in the Crawl Configuration section, optionally do the following:
   • To allow users to add alerts for individual SharePoint list items, click Allow alerts on individual SharePoint list items.

     By default, SharePoint lists are crawled as one item. Alerts for the list will be sent if any item in the list is changed if you do not click Allow alerts on individual SharePoint list items.

   • To crawl each SharePoint list item individually, click Index SharePoint list items individually.
7. In the Specify Authentication section, do one of the following:
   • To use the default content access account, click Use default crawling account to log in.
   • If the default crawling account cannot access this path, click Specify crawling account and then do the following:
     1. In the Account box, type the user name or ID that can access the resources in this URL space. Examples are user_name, user_name@org, or DOMAIN\user_name.
     2. In the Password box, type the password for this user name.

        Your password is protected and can be used only to access the needed resources for the purpose of crawling content.

     3. In the Confirm password box, type the password for this user name again.
     4. To prevent Basic authentication from being used, select the Prohibit the server from passing plain text passwords check box.

        Note  If you clear the check box to enable Basic authentication to be used, you must re-enter the password for the account.

   • To use a client certificate for authentication, click Specify client certificate, and then select a certificate from the list.

     For more information about using client certificates, see Using Client Certificates When Crawling Content.

8. Click OK.