--- title: "How to Create a Search App Page with Smart Search" description: "Step-by-step guide to creating a single app page with the Vitextra Smart Search web part in SharePoint Online, making it the site's search results page, and linking to it with ready-made queries and tabs." url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10223 language: en published: 2026-10-09 modified: 2026-10-13 products: - "Smart Search" author: "Lidija Reising" tags: ["Smart Search app page", "SharePoint single app page", "full-page app", "SharePoint search page", "search results page URL", "link to search results", "Vitextra Smart Search", "SharePoint Online search center"] --- # How to Create a Search App Page with Smart Search Step-by-step guide to creating a single app page with the Vitextra Smart Search web part in SharePoint Online, making it the site's search results page, and linking to it with ready-made queries and tabs. ## Overview A **single app page** is a modern SharePoint page that hosts one web part across the full width of the page, with no sections and no other web parts. For search, it's the quickest way to get a clean, dedicated search page: the search box, the tabs, the filters and the results take up the whole page, and there is nothing to lay out. This article explains how to create such a page with **Vitextra Smart Search**, how to make it the search results page of your site, and how to link to it so that a ready-made query opens in one click. 📝 **Note** Single app pages are available only in the modern SharePoint experience. Classic pages don't support app pages. If you need a search page that also contains other web parts — for example, a banner or quick links next to the search — create a regular page instead, as described in [KB10058. Build a Custom Search Results Page with Smart Search](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10058). Before you start, make sure that: - the Smart Search package is deployed to your tenant App Catalog and is available on the site; - you have permission to create pages on the site (site members and owners usually do). 💡 **Tip** If Smart Search isn't available on your site yet, deploy it first — see [KB10035. Installing Cloud-based Product](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10035). --- ## Creating the app page 1. Open the SharePoint site where the search page should live. 2. Select **New → Page** on the site's home page. You can also click the gear icon, open **Site contents** and select **New → Page** there. 3. In the panel that opens, switch to the **Apps** tab and select **Smart Search**. 4. Click **Create page**. ![Selecting Smart Search on the Apps tab](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10223/new-app-page-panel-en.png) *Selecting Smart Search on the Apps tab* The new page is created and opens in edit mode with Smart Search already on it, configured with the default settings. --- ## Naming and configuring the page 1. Enter a title for the page, for example *Search* or *Intranet Search*. The title is required and is also used as the page's file name, so a short title gives a short address. 2. Open the web part's property pane to adjust the settings. For a site-wide search page, a good starting point is: - **Search Scope** — **Tenant**, to search everything the user has access to, or **This site collection** for a search limited to the current site collection; - **Mode** — **Multiple Sources (Tabs)**, so users can switch between documents, pages, news, people and other sources; - **Display Search Box** — on; - **Show Filters** — on; - **Enable Paging** — on. 3. Click **Save** (or **Publish**) to make the page available to users. ![The app page in edit mode with the property pane open](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10223/app-page-edit-en.png) *The app page in edit mode with the property pane open* To change the settings later, open the page, click **Edit** and open the property pane again. 💡 **Tip** To choose which tabs appear and in what order, see [KB10224. Single Source vs. Multiple Sources (Tabs): Choosing the Search Mode in Smart Search](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10224). To decide what each search result shows, see [KB10225. How to Customize the Look of Search Results in Smart Search](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10225). --- ## Making it the site's search results page By default, a query typed into the SharePoint search box at the top of the site opens the built-in Microsoft Search results. You can send these queries to your new page instead: 1. Go to **Site settings** and select **Search Settings** under **Site Collection Administration**. 2. In the **Results page URL** field, enter the server-relative address of the app page, for example `/sites/intranet/SitePages/Search.aspx`. 3. Save the settings. The change can take up to 5 minutes to apply. SharePoint passes the query to the results page in the `q` parameter of the address, and Smart Search picks it up automatically: the user types a query in the site header and lands on your page with the results already shown. 📝 **Note** The **Results page URL** setting is configured per site collection and requires site collection administrator rights. For step-by-step screenshots of this setting, see [KB10058. Build a Custom Search Results Page with Smart Search](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10058). --- ## Linking to ready-made searches Smart Search keeps its state in the page address, so any search can be turned into a link: | Parameter | Meaning | Example | |---|---|---| | `q` | The search query | `q=travel%20policy` | | `source` | The tab to open (in **Multiple Sources** mode) | `source=documents` | | `p` | The page of results | `p=2` | For example, this link opens the search page with the query *travel policy* on the **Documents** tab: `/sites/intranet/SitePages/Search.aspx?q=travel%20policy&source=documents` The `source` parameter accepts the following values: | Value | Tab | |---|---| | `all` | Everything | | `documents` | Documents | | `popular` | Popular | | `news` | News | | `people` | People | | `video` | Video | | `meeting` | Meeting Recording | | `pages` | Pages | | `recently` | Recently Changed Items | | `pictures` | Pictures | Use such links in the site navigation, in quick links, in news posts or in emails — for example, *All HR policies* or *Our team's meeting recordings*. Users can also simply copy the address from the browser to share their current results with a colleague. ![Adding a link to a ready-made search to the site navigation](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10223/navigation-link-en.png) *Adding a link to a ready-made search to the site navigation* ❗ **Important** The `source` parameter works only in **Multiple Sources (Tabs)** mode, and only for a tab that is visible on the page. Spaces and special characters in the query must be URL-encoded — for example, a space becomes `%20`. --- ## Adding the page to the navigation To make the search page easy to find, add it to the site navigation: 1. On the site's home page, click **Edit** under the navigation menu. 2. Click the **+** sign where the link should appear and select **Link**. 3. Paste the address of the app page, enter a display name such as *Search*, and click **OK**. 4. Click **Save**. Learn more about the product: