# Deleted documents force-merge
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleted-documents-force-merge/299717
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [March 15, 2022, 10:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleted-documents-force-merge/299717 "2022-03-15T10:36:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sandeep\_Raju](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Sandeep_Raju)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2022, 10:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleted-documents-force-merge/299717/1 "2022-03-15T10:36:28Z")
Hi all, I have an index showing 1000 deleted documents. It is said that deleted documents occupy some amount of memory and we have to force merge them to empty space.
Which steps or command should we use to achieve this goal and free-up space from deleted documents?
---
### Author:  [@casterQ](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/casterQ)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2022, 11:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleted-documents-force-merge/299717/2 "2022-03-15T11:08:34Z")
```auto
POST index/_forcemerge?only_expunge_deletes=true
```
> **[Force merge API | Elasticsearch Guide \[8.1\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/8.1/indices-forcemerge.html)**
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2022, 11:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/deleted-documents-force-merge/299717/3 "2022-04-12T11:08:57Z")
This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.