Specific list search does not work, search works fine on rest of site

Question

Using a SharePoint 2016 on-premise solution.

We have a List who's results do not appear in search...either the search bar on top of the list or the global search. All other content of the SharePoint site is available (or at least seems to be). I have tried re-index that particular list, in the list settings, but it still does not appear.

Any idea on how to get this list indexed and searchable ?

EDIT: Allow items from this list to appear in search results' settings is also enabled. Tried rebooting, blowing away the index and doing a full crawl. Results still don't appear.

I believe this list used to a message board or wiki ... is there something special I need to do with the column sources ?

EDIT: The answer seemed to be going into Central Administration, Upgrade and Migration, Enable Features on Existing Sites, checking "Enable all sites...", and Enterprise Search. We previously had "SharePoint Server Standard Features" which for some reason was insufficient.

Answer 1

On Premises SharePoint Search can be a Beast! Thankfully my company has moved to SharePoint Online / O365 - which is its own basket of messiness.

My suggestions are nuclear options, and have worked for me when I have had similarly intractable issues with SharePoint Search.

Either solution should be performed on a weekend, preferably a long weekend if your SharePoint environment is large and/or if you are also indexing non-SharePoint content.

1. First try the Atom Bomb: Reset The Entire Search Index and perform a new full crawl. I know this probably sounds crazy, but this has fixed a number of search issues I have encountered over the past decade or so.

2. If above fails, use this option, the H-Bomb Option:

   a. If your Search Service indexes non-SharePoint content, be sure to sufficiently document those additional sources

   b. Delete all Search Service Application(s) & Search Database(s)

   c. Create a new Search Service Application, See Also: here and here

   d. Once configured, run a full index of all content sources.

Answer 2

Maybe you have disabled 'Allow items from this list to appear in search results' settings. This setting specifies whether this list should be visible in search results:

On the List Settings page, under General Settings, click Advanced settings.

In the Search section, under Allow items from this document library to appear in search results, select Yes to include all of the items in the list or library in the search result.

Reference:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/make-site-content-searchable#show-content-from-lists-or-libraries-in-search-results

BR

Answer 3

Based on all dialog above about this theme, please, follow the instructions bellow (at Microsoft Support Article):

1.Navigate to the site that contains the list or library that you want to change.

2.Locate and click the list or library you want to customize.

3.Click Site Actions, and then click Site Settings.

4.Under Site Administration, click Site Libraries and lists.

5.Click an item from the list, for example, Customize “Shared Documents.”

6.On the List Settings page, under General Settings, click Advanced settings.

7.In the Search section, under Allow items from this document library to appear in search results, select Yes to include all of the items in the list or library in search result or No to exclude all items from search results.

You need to be a Site Owner to make these configurations.