# Floundering with snowball analyzer setup

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/floundering-with-snowball-analyzer-setup/54425>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [June 30, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/floundering-with-snowball-analyzer-setup/54425 "2016-06-30T15:22:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Douglas\_McQuilken](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/douglas_mcquilken/32/44897_2.png) [@Douglas\_McQuilken](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Douglas_McQuilken)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/floundering-with-snowball-analyzer-setup/54425/1 "2016-06-30T15:22:59Z")

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I went through all the relevant ES documentation to no avail. I used the KISS method by starting with simple syntax from ES (sourced from [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/analysis-snowball](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/analysis-snowball)) . I simply changed to English - see below. Procedure:  
0) Ran a few test cases & captured results

1. Deleted index/type (leaving index available)
2. closed index
3. Updated index settings
4. opened index
5. issued GET for settings to confirm changes
6. re-indexed that index/type
7. issued a few test queries ☹

i realize that it's likely something obvious but unfortunately, not to me......

SETTINGS:  
{  
"analysis" : {  
"analyzer" : {  
"my\_analyzer" : {  
"tokenizer" : "standard",  
"filter" : ["standard", "lowercase", "my\_snow"]  
}  
},  
"filter" : {  
"my\_snow" : {  
"type" : "snowball",  
"language" : "English"  
}  
}  
}  
}

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Douglas\_McQuilken](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/douglas_mcquilken/32/44897_2.png) [@Douglas\_McQuilken](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Douglas_McQuilken)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/floundering-with-snowball-analyzer-setup/54425/2 "2016-06-30T17:47:47Z")

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I belatedly realized that I only wanted to snowball specific fields.  
So I attempted this via PUT mapping.  
Even though I didn't specify an analyzer, still has conflict with (presumably) standard.  
So.....looks like i need to export data, delete index, map it appropriately, then re-index data.  
If there are any shortcuts, i'm all ears!

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**Author:** ![spinscale](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/spinscale/32/25011_2.png) [@spinscale](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/spinscale)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 8:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/floundering-with-snowball-analyzer-setup/54425/3 "2016-07-04T08:16:28Z")

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Hey,

you cannot change the analyzer of a field, after data was indexed. Otherwise you would have the data stored with two different strategies, which made searches impossible and return weird results.

You can use the [reindex API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/docs-reindex.html) to make this process easier. However, you might want to play around with the [Analyze API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.3/indices-analyze.html) first, to find out of snowball actually makes sense with your data (this API is excellent for initial exploration, before you need to reindex).

--Alex

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Douglas\_McQuilken](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/douglas_mcquilken/32/44897_2.png) [@Douglas\_McQuilken](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Douglas_McQuilken)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 11:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/floundering-with-snowball-analyzer-setup/54425/4 "2016-07-04T11:12:01Z")

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Alex,  
I was hoping to change mapping "on the fly" to affect new documents only-  
then recycle existing data, one bite at a time.  
Yes, I did test snowball with my data, seems to meet my needs.  
Thx,  
Doug

Doug McQuilken  
President - Grow Through People  
[http://www.growthroughpeople.com/](http://www.growthroughpeople.com/)  
Owner - Boat Used Part Search  
[http://www.boatusedpartsearch.com/](http://www.boatusedpartsearch.com/)  
Amateur Shipwright  
[http://dougmcq000.wix.com/valiant](http://dougmcq000.wix.com/valiant)  
Boatbuilding and Maintenance Editor  
[http://www.catboats.org/](http://www.catboats.org/)

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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:** [July 5, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/floundering-with-snowball-analyzer-setup/54425/5 "2017-07-05T22:38:32Z")

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