# Delete support **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-support/5273 "2011-08-29T18:53:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Zhang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/848f3c/32.png) [@Qin\_Zhang](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Qin_Zhang)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-support/5273/1 "2011-08-29T18:53:56Z")
Hi, I'm a new user of elastic search and like what I've seen so far. I have some questions on versioning support: It seems that each update creates a new version of the document. I'm concerned about the index grow overtime since our app will have frequent updates on some objects. 1. Can I clean up the index by deleting old versions of a document? 2. In some cases I actually don't want to create a new version when updating a document. Is there any API support for this in-place update? Thanks, -Qin Zhang Model N. ---
**Author:** ![Kun\_Niu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@Kun\_Niu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Kun_Niu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-support/5273/2 "2011-08-29T18:56:34Z")
You can delete document using TransportClient or json request. If you want to update a document, you can use the same id to update the record. Kun Niu From: [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com)] On Behalf Of Qin Zhang Sent: 2011年8月30日 2:54 To: [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com) Subject: delete support Hi, I'm a new user of elastic search and like what I've seen so far. I have some questions on versioning support: It seems that each update creates a new version of the document. I'm concerned about the index grow overtime since our app will have frequent updates on some objects. 1. Can I clean up the index by deleting old versions of a document? 2. In some cases I actually don't want to create a new version when updating a document. Is there any API support for this in-place update? Thanks, -Qin Zhang Model N. ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-support/5273/3 "2011-08-29T19:05:19Z")
When you update a document, what effectively happens is that the document gets reindexed again as if it was a new document, and the "old" document gets marked as deleted. In the background, there is a merge process going around that expunges deleted docs (among other things). (this is all Lucene, btw). There isn't a way to do an "in place update", you can only "reindex" a doc with updated values. On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 9:53 PM, Qin Zhang [qzhang@modeln.com](mailto:qzhang@modeln.com) wrote: > Hi, > > I'm a new user of Elasticsearch and like what I've seen so far. I have > some questions on versioning support: > It seems that each update creates a new version of the document. I'm > concerned about the index grow overtime since our app will have frequent > updates on some objects. > > 1. Can I clean up the index by deleting old versions of a document? > 2. In some cases I actually don't want to create a new version when > updating a document. Is there any API support for this in-place update? > > Thanks, > > -Qin Zhang > Model N. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Zhang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/848f3c/32.png) [@Qin\_Zhang](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Qin_Zhang)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-support/5273/4 "2011-08-29T21:02:32Z")
Thank you. This is actually the behavior that I want, most of the times. I was just confused about the versioning feature that was introduced recently. Can you clarify further what kind of update creates a new version and keeps both versions that can be queried? I read the [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/index_.html) and I thought that that all updates create a new version and keep the old version, instead of marking the "old" as deleted... On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 12:05 PM, Shay Banon [kimchy@gmail.com](mailto:kimchy@gmail.com) wrote: > When you update a document, what effectively happens is that the document > gets reindexed again as if it was a new document, and the "old" document > gets marked as deleted. In the background, there is a merge process going > around that expunges deleted docs (among other things). (this is all Lucene, > btw). There isn't a way to do an "in place update", you can only "reindex" a > doc with updated values. > > On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 9:53 PM, Qin Zhang [qzhang@modeln.com](mailto:qzhang@modeln.com) wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > I'm a new user of Elasticsearch and like what I've seen so far. I have > > some questions on versioning support: > > It seems that each update creates a new version of the document. I'm > > concerned about the index grow overtime since our app will have frequent > > updates on some objects. > > > > 1. Can I clean up the index by deleting old versions of a document? > > 2. In some cases I actually don't want to create a new version when > > updating a document. Is there any API support for this in-place update? > > > > Thanks, > > > > -Qin Zhang > > Model N. -- Qin Zhang | Senior Director, Product Development | Model _N_, Inc. | Direct: 650.610.4845| Fax: 650.610.4699 | [qzhang@modeln.com](mailto:qzhang@modeln.com) | [www.modeln.com](http://www.modeln.com) Model _N_: The Leader in Revenue Management ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-support/5273/5 "2011-08-30T11:05:27Z")
Versioning does not mean keeping old versions around to be searchable. It just means that documents now have a version associated with them. On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 12:02 AM, Qin Zhang [qzhang@modeln.com](mailto:qzhang@modeln.com) wrote: > Thank you. This is actually the behavior that I want, most of the times. > I was just confused about the versioning feature that was introduced > recently. Can you clarify further what kind of update creates a new version > and keeps both versions that can be queried? I read the > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/index_.html) and I thought > that that all updates create a new version and keep the old version, instead > of marking the "old" as deleted... > > On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 12:05 PM, Shay Banon [kimchy@gmail.com](mailto:kimchy@gmail.com) wrote: > > > When you update a document, what effectively happens is that the document > > gets reindexed again as if it was a new document, and the "old" document > > gets marked as deleted. In the background, there is a merge process going > > around that expunges deleted docs (among other things). (this is all Lucene, > > btw). There isn't a way to do an "in place update", you can only "reindex" a > > doc with updated values. > > > > On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 9:53 PM, Qin Zhang [qzhang@modeln.com](mailto:qzhang@modeln.com) wrote: > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > I'm a new user of Elasticsearch and like what I've seen so far. I have > > > some questions on versioning support: > > > It seems that each update creates a new version of the document. I'm > > > concerned about the index grow overtime since our app will have frequent > > > updates on some objects. > > > > > > 1. Can I clean up the index by deleting old versions of a document? > > > 2. In some cases I actually don't want to create a new version when > > > updating a document. Is there any API support for this in-place update? > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > -Qin Zhang > > > Model N. > > -- > > Qin Zhang | Senior Director, Product Development | Model _N_, Inc. | > Direct: 650.610.4845| Fax: 650.610.4699 | [qzhang@modeln.com](mailto:qzhang@modeln.com) | > [www.modeln.com](http://www.modeln.com) > > Model _N_: The Leader in Revenue Management ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-support/5273/6 "2017-07-06T03:55:37Z")