# Unindexed fields and sparsity

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unindexed-fields-and-sparsity/119057>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 8, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unindexed-fields-and-sparsity/119057 "2018-02-08T13:49:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aidofitz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aidofitz/32/51253_2.png) [@aidofitz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/aidofitz)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unindexed-fields-and-sparsity/119057/1 "2018-02-08T13:49:47Z")

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Hi all,

Hopefully a quick and simple question, but one I can't seem to find an answer for in the docs etc.

I'm looking to avoid sparsity in our indexes, as per recommendations outlined here:  
[https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/general-recommendations.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/general-recommendations.html)

The question is, if I have many sparse but _unindexed_ fields (i.e. defined as index=false in mapping) in my index, do these cause the problems outlined in that document in the same way as fully indexed fields do? Thanks very much.

Regards,

Adrian

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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:** [March 8, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unindexed-fields-and-sparsity/119057/2 "2018-03-08T13:50:22Z")

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