# Is Elasticsearch refresh interval useless option when updating document of specific index?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-elasticsearch-refresh-interval-useless-option-when-updating-document-of-specific-index/276770>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [June 23, 2021, 10:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-elasticsearch-refresh-interval-useless-option-when-updating-document-of-specific-index/276770 "2021-06-23T10:20:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TheDevLuffy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/thedevluffy/32/90667_2.png) [@TheDevLuffy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TheDevLuffy)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 10:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-elasticsearch-refresh-interval-useless-option-when-updating-document-of-specific-index/276770/1 "2021-06-23T10:20:39Z")

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Hello

Is Elasticsearch refresh interval useless option when updating document of specific index ?

For Example,  
I have two indices on my Elasticsearch (index-001, index-002) and these indices have default refresh\_interval setting.

Here, I have some questions

- There is no insert or update operation to index-001 ( I expect there is no refresh on index-001 )  
When I update some document on index-002, Does refresh executed on index-001 ?

- Then, what is ideal case to set refresh\_interval -1 ?

- Where can I get elasticsearch refresh execution flow ? or Can you explain some inner side steps of refresh ?

Thanks

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-elasticsearch-refresh-interval-useless-option-when-updating-document-of-specific-index/276770/2 "2021-06-23T21:41:45Z")

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Indices will only refresh if they need to. So if you update index 2 and not 1, then only the 2nd index will refresh.

A negative refresh is mostly used when doing a big bulk upload, or if you know for certain an index will not change.

[Near real-time search | Elasticsearch Guide [7.13] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.13/near-real-time.html) has more info on the process.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 9:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-elasticsearch-refresh-interval-useless-option-when-updating-document-of-specific-index/276770/3 "2021-07-21T21:42:13Z")

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