My question is around whether or not custom managed properties should display in the property mapping of a CSWP.  If they should display how do I get them to show up?

I exposed a list as a catalog in site A (built using a content type with custom site columns) and connected to it from site B. On site B I connected to the catalog and verified that I have a new Result Source of the newly connected catalog. I took a CSWP and set it to query the new result source. Test query succeed, I only get results from the list.  I am using an OOB display template (2 lines) and tried to map Line 1 to a custom managed property from the result source but they do not display as an option.

I verified they do exist as managed properties in the search schema. I was able to manually type the managed property in the Line 1 textbox and the data displayed.  Is this what I need to do - manually type the manage property - xxxxxOWSTEXT in the property mapping fields of a CSWP ?  Seems odd that they do not display as an option...

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Hi,

Please check this article

http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2013/09/11/how-to-display-values-from-custom-managed-properties-in-search-results-option-1.aspx

I want to use an OOB display template, I do not want to modify or create a new display template.  Is the only way to get a custom managed property to display in the property mappings drop downs of a CSWP is to create a new display template? 

Hi,

You need to modify display template if you want to display values from custom managed properties in CSWP. It seems there is no way to avoid modifying display template since display templates control which managed property is shown in the search results and how they appear in the Web Part.

Best Regards,

Dean Wang

I would not say the only way to display values from a custom managed property in a CSWP is to modify the display template. Using one of the OOB item display templates (two line) I can manually type in my custom managed property xxxxxOWSTEXT in the "Line 1" textbox and click apply and the data is displayed.  All OOB managed properties display in the dropdowns and are available in every display template why don't the custom managed properties display?  SharePoint obviously knows about them since they show up in the Search Schema of the site and CSWP will display the data if you manually type them in one of the fields in an OOB Item Display template. 

In others words, what you are saying is that you can only use an OOB display template with OOB managed properties?  That just seems silly....

• Edited by adm12 Tuesday, August 25, 2015 2:38 PM
• Marked as answer by Dean_WangMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator 40 minutes ago

Hi adm12,

In general, we edit display template to display values of a custom managed property. However, your solution is more simply and convenient.

Thanks for your sharing.

Best Regards,

Dean Wang