Rich Text Column Contents Returned As Plain Text In Search

Question

I have a list with a enhanced rich text column. The list is enabled as a catalog. In the search results and catalog item reuse web part, the contents of the column are returned as plain text. I need to display the rich text contents.

How can I have the search crawl it and return the contents as rich text / html?

Answer 1

I couldn't find a way to have SharePoint retain the rich text / html markup of the enhanced rich text column contents in the Search Index.

As a workaround, I created new site columns of type Publishing HTML and used these columns to replace the existing enchanced rich text columns on the list.

SharePoint indexed these new site columns as Managed Properties, retaining the HTML in the search results. I was then able to used these search result properties in the Catalog Item Reuse Web Part and have the contents rendered as HTML.