# Indexing Hierarchical Couchbase Documents **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [January 3, 2017, 7:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indexing-hierarchical-couchbase-documents/70400 "2017-01-03T07:45:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![Mark\_Harwood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood/32/10538_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 9:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indexing-hierarchical-couchbase-documents/70400/2 "2017-01-03T09:19:53Z")
From the example documents you supplied there's no indication that doc 2 should be related to doc 1. You have 3 options : - Collapse all source docs into a single "flat" JSON doc - Collapse all source docs into a single "nested" JSON doc [1] - Store parent and child source docs separately but relate them when you add them [2] The decision process for why you would choose one approach over another is roughly this: ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/2X/b/b56cea352b3d9b5d8ea17615dd753a2f3cc6798e.png) I'm unfamiliar with the couchbase plugin and to what extent it can be made to work with elasticsearch's parent/child indexing API. [1] [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/2.x/nested-objects.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/2.x/nested-objects.html) [2] [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/2.x/parent-child.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/2.x/parent-child.html) --- _[View the full topic](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indexing-hierarchical-couchbase-documents/70400)._