# Any way to index but not save parts of the document?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [June 23, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691 "2011-06-23T14:45:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mattx](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mattx)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691/1 "2011-06-23T14:45:32Z")
Hi,
I'm sorry if this is documented somewhere but I cannot find it. Although I do think I remember reading it.
I want to index some email messages for search but they are already in a database so I do not want ES to save a copy of all the data (for example the body). Is there any way I can index an ENTIRE doc that looks like:
{
dbid: 12345,
tos: [[a@foo.com](mailto:a@foo.com), [b@foo.com](mailto:b@foo.com)],
from: [c@foo.com](mailto:c@foo.com)
subject: "A subject",
body: "A body"
}
and tell ES to only store a doc that looks like {dbid: 12345}?
---
### Author:  [@Clinton\_Gormley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Clinton_Gormley)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691/2 "2011-06-24T21:14:57Z")
Hi Matt
> Is there any way I can index an ENTIRE doc that looks like:
> and tell ES to only store a doc that looks like {dbid: 12345}?
You can disable to \_source field if you like.
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clint
---
### Author:  [@mattx](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mattx)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691/3 "2011-06-28T17:44:00Z")
Wow. The all or nothing approach doesn't work for me. I need to be able to at least get back the document ID of the thing I am indexing. What I really need is the ability to throw away only certain fields in the \_source.
Am I being stupid? If I bulk index 100k email messages and don't include the \_source then how can I later fetch these emails after doing a search? Do I have to store the IDs generated by the indexing operation as they map to my original IDs? I don't love that idea and I'm not even sure how to do that in a bulk indexing operation.
---
### Author:  [@Clinton\_Gormley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Clinton_Gormley)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691/4 "2011-06-28T17:58:16Z")
Hi Matt
On Tue, 2011-06-28 at 10:44 -0700, mattx wrote:
> Wow. The all or nothing approach doesn't work for me. I need to be able to
> at least get back the document ID of the thing I am indexing. What I really
> need is the ability to throw away only certain fields in the \_source.
>
> Am I being stupid? If I bulk index 100k email messages and don't include
> the \_source then how can I later fetch these emails after doing a search?
> Do I have to store the IDs generated by the indexing operation as they map
> to my original IDs? I don't love that idea and I'm not even sure how to do
> that in a bulk indexing operation.
I don't follow what it is you are trying to do. Whether you index or
bulk\_index you get back the ID (either the ID that you specify, or an
autogenerated ID)
Why don't you want the \_source? Because it contains too much
information? What about deleting the information that you don't want to
store before indexing the email?
Perhaps a bit more context will help...
clint
---
### Author:  [@medcl\_net](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/medcl_net)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691/5 "2011-06-29T04:06:10Z")
Hey,you can use the parameter : fields to specify which fields you are
expected to return.
On 6/29/11, Clinton Gormley [clinton@iannounce.co.uk](mailto:clinton@iannounce.co.uk) wrote:
> Hi Matt
>
> On Tue, 2011-06-28 at 10:44 -0700, mattx wrote:
>
> > Wow. The all or nothing approach doesn't work for me. I need to be able
> > to
> > at least get back the document ID of the thing I am indexing. What I
> > really
> > need is the ability to throw away only certain fields in the \_source.
> >
> > Am I being stupid? If I bulk index 100k email messages and don't include
> > the \_source then how can I later fetch these emails after doing a search?
> > Do I have to store the IDs generated by the indexing operation as they map
> > to my original IDs? I don't love that idea and I'm not even sure how to
> > do
> > that in a bulk indexing operation.
>
> I don't follow what it is you are trying to do. Whether you index or
> bulk\_index you get back the ID (either the ID that you specify, or an
> autogenerated ID)
>
> Why don't you want the \_source? Because it contains too much
> information? What about deleting the information that you don't want to
> store before indexing the email?
>
> Perhaps a bit more context will help...
>
> clint
--
从我的移动设备发送
---
### Author:  [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691/6 "2011-06-29T12:02:31Z")
Another way is not to store the source, and specifically store certain fields (by enabling store in the mapping section for each field).
On Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 7:06 AM, Medcl Zero wrote:
> Hey,you can use the parameter : fields to specify which fields you are
> expected to return.
>
> On 6/29/11, Clinton Gormley \<[clinton@iannounce.co.uk](mailto:clinton@iannounce.co.uk) ([mailto:clinton@iannounce.co.uk](mailto:clinton@iannounce.co.uk))\> wrote:
>
> > Hi Matt
> >
> > On Tue, 2011-06-28 at 10:44 -0700, mattx wrote:
> >
> > > Wow. The all or nothing approach doesn't work for me. I need to be able
> > > to
> > > at least get back the document ID of the thing I am indexing. What I
> > > really
> > > need is the ability to throw away only certain fields in the \_source.
> > >
> > > Am I being stupid? If I bulk index 100k email messages and don't include
> > > the \_source then how can I later fetch these emails after doing a search?
> > > Do I have to store the IDs generated by the indexing operation as they map
> > > to my original IDs? I don't love that idea and I'm not even sure how to
> > > do
> > > that in a bulk indexing operation.
> >
> > I don't follow what it is you are trying to do. Whether you index or
> > bulk\_index you get back the ID (either the ID that you specify, or an
> > autogenerated ID)
> >
> > Why don't you want the \_source? Because it contains too much
> > information? What about deleting the information that you don't want to
> > store before indexing the email?
> >
> > Perhaps a bit more context will help...
> >
> > clint
>
> --
> 从我的移动设备发送
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/any-way-to-index-but-not-save-parts-of-the-document/4691/7 "2017-07-06T04:02:17Z")