How to search for documents across libraries

Question

I am still getting up to speed with Sharepoint, after spending two months correcting the noob error of letting my main list view get above 5000 items.

I have split this library up (it had upwards of 22,000 files) into 20+ different libraries that will all stay below the 5000 list view threshold. (I use Sharepoint with MS Dynamics CRM, and apparently CRM will not tolerate an excess of 5000 items).

That single library had a great view, with a custom boolean field ("Done") which marked files that needed to be reviewed. Files would come in, the receptionist staff would mark them as "Not Done", and additional staff would have the option to go through this list and review the documents that were Not Done.

Now, with the library broken up into 20+ pieces, I need to know the best way to achieve a view that will give me access to every "Not Done" document in each of the separate libraries I have created.

What methodologies should I start looking at?

Answer 1

There are four ways of going about this.

1. Content query webpart: This will basically give you a view based on type. It is very easy to set up, but you'll have to do some XSLT modifications to make it look nice. Can be a bit of a pain. Some help -> http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ecm/archive/2006/10/25/configuring-and-customizing-the-content-query-web-part.aspx
2. SharePoint designer: Cross site query -> If you're handy with SharePoint designer, you can use the SPDataSource control to make a cross site query (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.webcontrols.spdatasource.datasourcemode.ASPX). Once you've got the data in your datasource, you can use another control like the DataView control to connect it, this should all very easily be done with SharePoint designer, no actual programming required.
3. SharePoint Search: Like the previous post suggests, you can basically use search and show some results in a simple search pane with a fixed search query. By using KQL (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ee558911(v=office.15).aspx) you can finetune your query to search for very specific properties and content types. In SharePoint 2013 enterprise this functionality is greatly increased for some nice results. The idea behind search is to go through a huge amount of data, so I can image it feels relatively unwieldy to use for just showing data from 20 libraries. Doing simple things like sorting and grouping can be more complex than you're used to
4. Programmatically there are many ways in going about this. If you just want to use javascript I'm sure there's a REST URL you can use (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/dn531433(v=office.15).aspx). In the back end you can get a DataTable for the SPSiteDataQuery function.

I suggest you go through my options top to bottom and see which one gives you enough flexibility with the least amount of effort.

Answer 2

Best way to do something like you need is to use the search engine.

Do you have a specific Content Type or List template for the Library? in this case you can filter your search query for Content type or list template and also where the Site column "IsDone" has the value "Not Done". Actually, even if you don't have a specific CT or List template you could do that just querying by the Site column "IsDone"