# Delete documents from index based on timestamp **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [January 11, 2017, 11:26am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209 "2017-01-11T11:26:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sari.reach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sari.reach](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sari.reach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 11:26am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209/1 "2017-01-11T11:26:09Z")
I have a huge index and I want to delete/archive documents from a huge index based on timestamp. ---
**Author:** ![Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ravi_Shanker_Reddy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 11:28am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209/2 "2017-01-11T11:28:11Z")
[https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-delete-by-query.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-delete-by-query.html) DeleteByQuery can be used. but its a very slow process. ---
**Author:** ![sari.reach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sari.reach](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sari.reach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 11:32am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209/3 "2017-01-11T11:32:13Z")
Thank you Ravi. Is there any internal time stamp that these documents contain while getting created so that i can put a query to delete the documents older than 3 days ---
**Author:** ![sari.reach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sari.reach](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sari.reach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 11:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209/4 "2017-01-11T11:36:07Z")
Also, I am using Elastic Search 1.7.3 version. Is delete\_by\_query available for this version? ---
**Author:** ![Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Ravi\_Shanker\_Reddy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ravi_Shanker_Reddy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 11:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209/5 "2017-01-11T11:44:46Z")
[https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/1.7/docs-delete-by-query.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/1.7/docs-delete-by-query.html) Its available in that version. But depreciated. Please have a look. ---
**Author:** ![sari.reach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@sari.reach](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sari.reach)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209/6 "2017-01-11T12:01:24Z")
Can you please answer the below question as well. Is there any internal time stamp that these documents contain while getting created so that i can put a query to delete the documents older than 3 days ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209/7 "2017-01-11T17:41:33Z")
If you want to keep only 3 days of data, might be better to reindex to a new index the 3 days and drop the old one. Probably more efficient... ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-documents-from-index-based-on-timestamp/71209/8 "2017-02-08T17:41:40Z")
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