The Refiner Properties Page

The Refiner Properties page enables you to establish and configure the collection of custom properties that will be available for use in refiner controls. Custom properties provide metadata for a given document, such as the document author, last-modified date, document type, etc.

Finding the Refiner Properties Page

To find the Refiner Properties page:
1. Go to the Search Tabs page for the site and site level at which your refiner property will apply. See “Search-Tab Configuration and Inheritance” for details.

2. Click on the search tab to which you want to add the refiner property and select Configure Search Tab from its action menu. This opens the Search Tab Configuration page.

3. Click on the Refiner Properties link under the Property Settings heading on the Search Tab Configuration page. This brings you to the Refiner Properties page.

See below for details about the information, settings and features provided on the Refiner Properties page.

Interpreting the Refiner Properties List

The Refiner Properties page provides a list of properties currently available for refiner controls on your selected site and search tab. You can see the following information here:
• Property ID: These are listed in the ID column. This is how the property is identified on the various Search & Preview configuration pages.

• Property Name: These are listed in the Name column. This is how each property is identified to users.

• Managed Property: Refiner properties are an Search & Preview concept; they are named and configured using settings provided by Search & Preview. However, each property must also be known to SharePoint and its search engine as a managed property. Usually, there are many more managed properties in SharePoint than would be relevant as refiner properties for Search & Preview. The Managed Property column shows the name of the SharePoint managed property that is mapped to each listed Search & Preview refiner property.

• Inheritance Status: As with most Search & Preview settings, refiner properties are inherited along the lines of your SharePoint site structure. Icons in the Inherited column indicate whether each property has inherited some or all of its settings from a higher-level site as follows:

	This icon in the Inherited column indicates a property that has been inherited from a higher site level without any local overrides. You can break the inheritance and make custom settings for the local site by using the property action menus (see below). The icon is shown in gray for properties that are hidden starting at the current level and below.
	This icon in the Inherited column indicates a property that was originally inherited from a higher site level but has since been customized. These properties no longer track updates made at higher site levels—all settings are now defined locally. These local overrides are also inherited by child sites (if any). You can reinstate the inheritance of any of these properties by using the property action menus (see below). The icon is shown in gray for properties that are hidden starting at the current level and below.
(no icon)	Properties that do not show an icon in the Inherited column have been created at the local level and are not available at higher levels. These properties will be inherited by child sites (if any).
	This icon in the Inherited column indicates a property that has been both created and hidden at the local level (see below for details about hidden properties).

Using the Refiner Properties Toolbar

A toolbar is provided at the top of the Refiner Properties page. It provides buttons for performing each of several tasks, as outlined below.

	Click here to return to the page you were on just before coming to the current page.
	Click here to add a new refiner property for your current site and search tab. This opens the Add Refiner Property page. The settings provided here are the same as those for configuring an existing property (see “Creating and Configuring Refiner Properties”)
	Click here to reload the current page. This will reveal updates made by the system, other users or in other browser windows while the current page remained open in your browser.

Using the Refiner Properties Action Menus

	This entry appears for properties that have been inherited and not (yet) customized. Select this entry to capture the currently inherited settings and break the inheritance, which means that changes made for this property higher up in the hierarchy will no longer affect it at the current level or below. This entry will also bring you to the page for configuring the selected property (see “Creating and Configuring Refiner Properties”).
	This entry appears for properties that are either defined or customized at the current level. Select this to open the page for configuring the selected property (see “Creating and Configuring Refiner Properties”).
	Select this entry to create a new property that initially has the same settings as the selected one. This opens the Copy Refiner Properties page, which enables you to configure the new copy (these settings are the same as those offered when you edit or create a new property). You must at least assign a new and unique ID to the new copy.
	To rearrange the properties, click on a target property and select one of these entries. Note that non-customized, inherited properties cannot be moved.
	If you would like to disable a property temporarily, or suppress it for just a few branches of your hierarchy, select its Hide Property entry (this entry is only active for properties that are not currently hidden). Hidden properties will show “(Hidden)” after their name on the Refiner Properties page (e.g., “Author (Hidden)”) and will also show grayed icons in the Inherited column. Hidden properties will not appear to users at the level at which they are marked as hidden, nor will they appear for any of the sites below that branch of the hierarchy (including sites for which a newly hidden property previously had local overrides). Hidden properties will furthermore not appear to administrators on the Refiner Properties page for any of the sites below the level at which a given property was hidden. To reactivate a hidden property, find the site level at which the property is marked as hidden, open its action menu and select the Show Property entry (this entry is only active for properties that are currently hidden). The property will once again be visible to all users and administrators at that level and below. If local overrides existed for a lower-level property before it was hidden, then those overrides will be reinstated when the property is again set to be shown.
	This entry appears for customized, inherited properties. Select this entry to discard local overrides and re-instate inheritance, which means that these properties will continue to track configuration changes made to its parent.
	This entry is only active for properties that are defined at the current level. Select it to delete the selected property. Note that if the deleted property has been customized at a child level, then that property will remain at that child level and will no longer be marked as inherited.