# Space saving for index=false

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [November 2, 2021, 3:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184 "2021-11-02T03:03:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![anon17386273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@anon17386273](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/anon17386273)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 3:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184/1 "2021-11-02T03:03:27Z")

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Hi

I have an index that is 300gb in size with all 30 fields index=true. I tried setting 15 of the fields with index=false on another index and did a reindexing to compare the size.  
The end result is that there seems to be no space saving. The size remains the same for both index. Anyone done this test before or is there other settings that might affect the results?

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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:** [November 2, 2021, 3:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184/2 "2021-11-02T03:10:24Z")

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How did you compare the index sizes?

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**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 3:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184/3 "2021-11-02T03:38:49Z")

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The only accurate way to compare index sizes is if both have the same number of shards and both have been forced merged to 1 segment.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anon17386273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@anon17386273](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/anon17386273)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 4:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184/4 "2021-11-02T04:44:11Z")

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by looking at \_cat/indices

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anon17386273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@anon17386273](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/anon17386273)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 4:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184/5 "2021-11-02T04:45:16Z")

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the indexes have same number of shards. I will try to do a force merge to 1 segment and compare again

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**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 6:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184/6 "2021-11-09T06:14:40Z")

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Actually most accurate is

`POST /my-index-000001/_disk_usage?run_expensive_tasks=true`

> **[Analyze index disk usage API | Elasticsearch Guide \[7.15\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-disk-usage.html)**

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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:** [December 7, 2021, 6:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/space-saving-for-index-false/288184/7 "2021-12-07T06:15:09Z")

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