Performance Issue with PnP Modern Search 4.19.0 through 4.23.2

Last Thursday, July 9, my eagle-eyed colleague Julie Turner alerted me to something that Kasper Larsen talked about on the Copilot, Microsoft 365 & Power Platform call at (15:17).

In many recent versions of PnP Modern Search, there was a bug which enabled the default extensibility library for all PnP Search Results Web Parts which were added with those versions. This can make the search results load more slowly. (Extensibility is a very cool part of PnP Modern Search, though.)

Unfortunately, that means a lot of versions: 4.19.0, 4.19.1, 4.20.0, 4.21.0, 4.22.0, 4.23.0, 4.23.1, and 4.23.2. Those version release dates stretch from Dec 23, 2025, through last week.

Several people reported the slowness in the GitHub Issues (1, 2), which is why it has been fixed. If you see an issue like this, please report it!

If this affects you, you have two main options:

• Manual fix: Edit the pages where you have added PnP Search Results Web Parts and disable the default extensibility library. (See instructions below.)
• Upgrade fix (recommended): Upgrade to version 4.23.3 or greater, and the issue will be fixed where the default extensibility library is not needed. [I’m validating this]

Note that leaving things as they are won’t change the search results you get; the pages where you’ve used those versions may just load more slowly. Slow pages don’t make most people very happy.

Manual Fix

If you’d like to fix the issue manually, follow these steps:

Edit the page where you have a PnP Search Results Web Part

In the properties pane for the Web Part, navigate to the fourth pane. In that pane, about halfway down, you’ll see the Extensibility configuration section. Click the Configure button.

In the extensibilities libraries settings, remove the Default extensibility library and click Save.

Save the page, and you should see immediate performance improvements.

Upgrade Fix

I like to keep my clients up to date on the PnP Modern search Web Parts, anyway, so I’ll likely be either upgrading them or suggesting to each that they do so, depending on how our projects work.

Upgrading PnP Modern Search is straightforward if you follow the latest release process and deployment steps. If you haven’t upgraded your installation in a while, this is a great reason to do so. Follow these instructions and let me know if you need any help!

1. Check for the Latest Release

• Go to the official PnP Modern Search releases page on GitHub.
• Review the changelog for the latest version (e.g., v4.23.3) to see what’s new, such as bug fixes, performance improvements, or new features.
• Compare the GitHub release version with the one currently installed in your SharePoint Online tenant.

2. Locate Your Current Version

• In the SharePoint Admin Center, go to Apps → Manage Apps.
• Check the version installed in your environment. If it’s lower than 4.23.3, it’s time to update.

3. Download the Latest Package

• From the GitHub releases page, download the latest pnp-modern-search-parts-v4.sppkg file.

4. Deploy the Update

• Option A – Global Tenant App Catalog:
  Upload the .sppkg to the global tenant app catalog. This makes the solution available to all sites without requiring per-site installation.
• Option B – Site Collection App Catalog:
  Upload to a site collection app catalog if you want to force installation at the site level.