[Steven Zahm]

@ Matthew

This can be done, but requires a little code snippet to add this functionality. Here’s how:

Install the Code Snippets plugin.

Add a new snippet with the following code:

add_action( 'wp', 'cn_search_category_reset' );

function cn_search_category_reset() {
    global $wp_rewrite, $post;

    $keywords     = get_query_var( 'cn-s' );
    $categoryIDs  = get_query_var( 'cn-cat' );
    $categorySlug = get_query_var( 'cn-cat-slug' );

    if ( ! empty( $keywords ) && ( ! empty( $categoryIDs ) || ! empty( $categorySlug ) ) ) {

        cnSEO::doFilterPermalink( FALSE );

        // Get the directory home page ID.
        $homeID = cnSettingsAPI::get( 'connections', 'connections_home_page', 'page_id' );

        $permalink = $wp_rewrite->using_permalinks() ? trailingslashit( get_permalink( $homeID ) ) : get_permalink( $homeID );

        wp_redirect( add_query_arg( array( 'cn-s' => $keywords, 'cn-cat' => FALSE, 'cn-cat-slug' => FALSE ), $permalink ) );

        exit;

    } elseif ( ! empty( $categoryIDs ) && ! empty( $categorySlug ) ) {

        cnSEO::doFilterPermalink( FALSE );

        // Get the directory home page ID.
        $homeID = cnSettingsAPI::get( 'connections', 'connections_home_page', 'page_id' );

        $permalink = $wp_rewrite->using_permalinks() ? trailingslashit( get_permalink( $homeID ) ) : get_permalink( $homeID );

        wp_redirect( add_query_arg( array( 'cn-cat' => $categoryIDs, 'cn-cat-slug' => FALSE ), $permalink ) );

        exit;
    }

}

Save and activate the snippet.

Now when a user does a search, the category selection will be reset.

Hope that helps! Let me know.