# \_delete\_by\_query documentation suggestion

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-by-query-documentation-suggestion/315642>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [October 2, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-by-query-documentation-suggestion/315642 "2022-10-02T21:42:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MarcBT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@MarcBT](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MarcBT)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-by-query-documentation-suggestion/315642/1 "2022-10-02T21:42:40Z")

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IMO, the \_delete\_by\_query page should mention that if an index is moved out of 'hot' phase by ILM, the delete will fail with "FORBIDDEN/8/index write (api)".

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**Author:** ![Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/christian_dahlqvist/32/4617_2.png) [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 5:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-by-query-documentation-suggestion/315642/2 "2022-10-03T05:40:48Z")

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I believe this will depend on how your ILM policy is defined. You have the option to perform a couple of actions that will make the index read-only, but if those steps are avoided it should still be possible to update indices on other tiers.

What does your policy look like?

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 5:41am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-by-query-documentation-suggestion/315642/3 "2022-10-31T05:41:06Z")

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