# What does it mean to "store" a field? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [November 16, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893 "2011-11-16T22:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nick\_Hoffman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nick_hoffman/32/1872_2.png) [@Nick\_Hoffman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nick_Hoffman)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/1 "2011-11-16T22:43:42Z")
Throughout the documentation on the website, the "store" option is mentioned. Eg: "The field is stored in the index" "Set to yes the store actual field in the index, no to not store it." [http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/core-types.html](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/core-types.html) What are the consequences of storing, or not storing, a field in the index? My guess is that an unstored field can't be queried, but will be returned when retrieving the document. Thanks guys. ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/2 "2011-11-17T01:17:46Z")
When you _index_ a field, you can search it. If you store it, you can display the content of this field if your document matches. But, if you store the whole document (source), you can also display it. So an unstored field can be queried but can not be displayed if you have also disabled source. This how I understand it. Correct me if I'm wrong... HTH David 😉 @dadoonet Le 16 nov. 2011 à 23:43, Nick Hoffman [nick@deadorange.com](mailto:nick@deadorange.com) a écrit : > Throughout the documentation on the website, the "store" option is mentioned. Eg: > > "The field is stored in the index" > "Set to yes the store actual field in the index, no to not store it." > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/core-types.html) > > What are the consequences of storing, or not storing, a field in the index? > > My guess is that an unstored field can't be queried, but will be returned when retrieving the document. > > Thanks guys. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Andy\_3](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Andy_3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/3 "2011-11-17T02:59:16Z")
Great question, I'd like to get a good understanding of this too. One thing is, I think if your going to highlight fields, then it is better to store them too, so that they don't have to parsed from the source for the highlighting. That atleast was my impression after reading [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/search/highlighting.html) On Nov 16, 7:17 pm, David Pilato [da...@pilato.fr](mailto:da...@pilato.fr) wrote: > When you _index_ a field, you can search it. > If you store it, you can display the content of this field if your document matches. > > But, if you store the whole document (source), you can also display it. > > So an unstored field can be queried but can not be displayed if you have also disabled source. > > This how I understand it. > > Correct me if I'm wrong... > > HTH > David 😉 > @dadoonet > > Le 16 nov. 2011 à 23:43, Nick Hoffman [n...@deadorange.com](mailto:n...@deadorange.com) a écrit : > > > Throughout the documentation on the website, the "store" option is mentioned. Eg: > > > "The field is stored in the index" > > "Set to yes the store actual field in the index, no to not store it." > > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/core-types.html) > > > What are the consequences of storing, or not storing, a field in the index? > > > My guess is that an unstored field can't be queried, but will be returned when retrieving the document. > > > Thanks guys. ---
**Author:** ![Nick\_Hoffman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nick_hoffman/32/1872_2.png) [@Nick\_Hoffman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nick_Hoffman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/4 "2011-11-17T04:57:17Z")
Cool, that makes sense. Where/how does one configure whether or not the whole document is stored? I looked around on the ES website, but couldn't find this detail. ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/5 "2011-11-17T05:51:40Z")
> **[Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale](https://www.elastic.co)** > > Power insights and outcomes with the Elasticsearch Platform and AI. See into your data and find answers that matter with enterprise solutions designed to help you build, observe, and protect. Try Elasticsearch free today. David 😉 @dadoonet Le 17 nov. 2011 à 05:57, Nick Hoffman [nick@deadorange.com](mailto:nick@deadorange.com) a écrit : > Cool, that makes sense. Where/how does one configure whether or not the whole document is stored? I looked around on the ES website, but couldn't find this detail. ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/6 "2011-11-17T13:19:20Z")
Heya, By default in elasticsearch, the \_source (the document one indexed) is stored. This means when you search, you can get the actual document source back. Moreover, elasticsearch will automatically extract fields / objects from the \_source and return them if you explicitly ask for it (as well as possibly use it in other components, like highlighting). You can specify that a specific field is also stored. This menas that the data for that field will be stored "on its own". Meaning that if you ask for "field1" (which is stored), elasticsearch will identify that its stored, and load it from the index instead of getting it from the \_source (assuming \_source is enabled). When do you want to enable storing specific fields? Most times, you don't. Fetching the \_source is fast and extracting it is fast as well. If you have very large documents, where the cost of storing the \_source, or the cost of parsing the \_source is high, you can explicitly map some fields to be stored instead. Note, there is a cost of retrieving each stored field. So, for example, if you have a json with 10 fields with reasonable size, and you map all of them as stored, and ask for all of them, this means loading each one (more disk seeks), compared to just loading the \_source (which is one field, possibly compressed). -shay.banon On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 7:51 AM, David Pilato [david@pilato.fr](mailto:david@pilato.fr) wrote: > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/source-field.html) > > David 😉 > @dadoonet > > Le 17 nov. 2011 à 05:57, Nick Hoffman [nick@deadorange.com](mailto:nick@deadorange.com) a écrit : > > > Cool, that makes sense. Where/how does one configure whether or not the > > whole document is stored? I looked around on the ES website, but couldn't > > find this detail. ---
**Author:** ![Nick\_Hoffman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nick_hoffman/32/1872_2.png) [@Nick\_Hoffman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nick_Hoffman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/7 "2011-11-17T17:16:34Z")
Ah, perfect! Thanks, David. ---
**Author:** ![Nick\_Hoffman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nick_hoffman/32/1872_2.png) [@Nick\_Hoffman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nick_Hoffman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/8 "2011-11-17T17:18:08Z")
Great explanation, Shay. Thanks for taking the time to write that. It really clears up all of my questions. ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Ward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5e9695/32.png) [@Ray\_Ward](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ray_Ward)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/9 "2011-12-05T00:21:32Z")
> When do you want to enable storing specific fields? Most times, you > don't. Fetching the \_source is fast and extracting it is fast as well. If > you have very large documents, where the cost of storing the \_source, or > the cost of parsing the \_source is high, you can explicitly map some fields > to be stored instead. So if you are going to store the source (which is on by default) then you shouldn't store individual fields as it offers no real advantage. And if you have very large documents where you may be searching multiple fields, but only need certain fields returned in the hit, then you may choose to disable storing the source and then you store individual fields instead. Is this the intention? ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/10 "2011-12-05T19:22:46Z")
Almost, sometimes it also make sense to store the \_source and store other fields specifically. If you need hte \_source now and then, for example, in order to reindex, but it can be quite big, so not to pay the price of loading and possibly parsing it, just fetch specific stored fields. On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 2:21 AM, Ray Ward [ray@rayward.com.au](mailto:ray@rayward.com.au) wrote: > > When do you want to enable storing specific fields? Most times, you > > don't. Fetching the \_source is fast and extracting it is fast as well. If > > you have very large documents, where the cost of storing the \_source, or > > the cost of parsing the \_source is high, you can explicitly map some > > fields > > to be stored instead. > > So if you are going to store the source (which is on by default) then > you shouldn't store individual fields as it offers no real advantage. > And if you have very large documents where you may be searching > multiple fields, but only need certain fields returned in the hit, > then you may choose to disable storing the source and then you store > individual fields instead. > > Is this the intention? ---
**Author:** ![vineeth\_mohan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@vineeth\_mohan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vineeth_mohan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/11 "2012-02-17T03:09:26Z")
So let me get this idea right. If store is yes and \_source is enabled , is 2 copies of the same field stored in ES ? Also is compression applied to "stored" field too ? I am seeing all possible ways to reduce size of storage without sacrificing the high-lightening functionality. If there is any other good option apart from the aforementioned let me know ... Thanks Vineeth On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 12:52 AM, Shay Banon [kimchy@gmail.com](mailto:kimchy@gmail.com) wrote: > Almost, sometimes it also make sense to store the \_source and store other > fields specifically. If you need hte \_source now and then, for example, in > order to reindex, but it can be quite big, so not to pay the price of > loading and possibly parsing it, just fetch specific stored fields. > > On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 2:21 AM, Ray Ward [ray@rayward.com.au](mailto:ray@rayward.com.au) wrote: > > > > When do you want to enable storing specific fields? Most times, you > > > don't. Fetching the \_source is fast and extracting it is fast as well. > > > If > > > you have very large documents, where the cost of storing the \_source, or > > > the cost of parsing the \_source is high, you can explicitly map some > > > fields > > > to be stored instead. > > > > So if you are going to store the source (which is on by default) then > > you shouldn't store individual fields as it offers no real advantage. > > And if you have very large documents where you may be searching > > multiple fields, but only need certain fields returned in the hit, > > then you may choose to disable storing the source and then you store > > individual fields instead. > > > > Is this the intention? ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 8:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/12 "2012-02-17T08:12:49Z")
Hi, Just have about the same question regarding highlighting of attachments. It seems that if you disable source for documents with attachment field, you can’t highlight them, even if you mark the field attachment to be stored. Documentation is saying : In order to perform highlighting, the actual content of the field is required. If the field in question is stored (has store set to yes in the mapping), it will be used, otherwise, the actual\_source will be loaded and the relevant field will be extracted from it. @Shay, can you confirm that or should I make more tests to find how to do it ? David. De : [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com)] De la part de Vineeth Mohan Envoyé : vendredi 17 février 2012 04:09 À : [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com) Objet : Re: What does it mean to "store" a field? So let me get this idea right. If store is yes and \_source is enabled , is 2 copies of the same field stored in ES ? Also is compression applied to "stored" field too ? I am seeing all possible ways to reduce size of storage without sacrificing the high-lightening functionality. If there is any other good option apart from the aforementioned let me know ... Thanks Vineeth ---
**Author:** ![vineeth\_mohan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@vineeth\_mohan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vineeth_mohan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 12:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/13 "2012-02-17T12:01:47Z")
I tired some tests on, following are the index size with the below mentioned tests. PS - The test i used as base 64 of some binary data With Store=yes , \_source=enable ------ 1.3 MB Store=No , \_source=disable ------- 1 MB Store=NO , \_source=disable - 600 KB Store=No,\_source=enable,compress=on - 900 KB So i come to conclusion that by default the same string is stored twice. Thanks Vineeth On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 1:42 PM, David Pilato [david@pilato.fr](mailto:david@pilato.fr) wrote: > Hi,\*\*\*\* > > * * * > > * * * > > Just have about the same question regarding highlighting of attachments.\*\* > \*\* > > * * * > > It seems that if you disable source for documents with attachment field, > you can’t highlight them, even if you mark the field attachment to be > stored.\*\*\*\* > > Documentation is saying :\*\*\*\* > > In order to perform highlighting, the actual content of the field is > required. If the field in question is stored (has store set to yes in the > mapping), it will be used, otherwise, the actual\_source will be loaded > and the relevant field will be extracted from it.\*\*\*\* > > * * * > > @Shay, can you confirm that or should I make more tests to find how to do > it ?\*\*\*\* > > * * * > > * * * > > * * * > > David.\*\*\*\* > > * * * > > * * * > > _De :_ [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com) [mailto: > [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com)] _De la part de_ Vineeth Mohan > _Envoyé :_ vendredi 17 février 2012 04:09 > _À :_ [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com) > _Objet :_ Re: What does it mean to "store" a field?\*\*\*\* > > * * * > > So let me get this idea right. > If store is yes and \_source is enabled , is 2 copies of the same field > stored in ES ? > Also is compression applied to "stored" field too ? > > I am seeing all possible ways to reduce size of storage without > sacrificing the high-lightening functionality. > If there is any other good option apart from the aforementioned let me > know ... > > Thanks > Vineeth\*\*\*\* > > * * * ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/14 "2012-02-17T19:00:48Z")
Yes, when the field is stored, then it will be used for highlighting. Thats the behavior. On Friday, February 17, 2012 at 10:12 AM, David Pilato wrote: > Hi, > > Just have about the same question regarding highlighting of attachments. > > It seems that if you disable source for documents with attachment field, you can’t highlight them, even if you mark the field attachment to be stored. > > Documentation is saying : > > In order to perform highlighting, the actual content of the field is required. If the field in question is stored (has store set to yes in the mapping), it will be used, otherwise, the actual\_source will be loaded and the relevant field will be extracted from it. > > @Shay, can you confirm that or should I make more tests to find how to do it ? > > David. > > De : [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com) [[mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com)] De la part de Vineeth Mohan > Envoyé : vendredi 17 février 2012 04:09 > À : [elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com) ([mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch@googlegroups.com)) > Objet : Re: What does it mean to "store" a field? > > So let me get this idea right. > If store is yes and \_source is enabled , is 2 copies of the same field stored in ES ? > Also is compression applied to "stored" field too ? > > I am seeing all possible ways to reduce size of storage without sacrificing the high-lightening functionality. > If there is any other good option apart from the aforementioned let me know ... > > Thanks > Vineeth ---
**Author:** ![Saurabh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Saurabh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Saurabh)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/15 "2012-06-13T11:17:00Z")
Is there and way to mark fields as stored using JAVA API On Thursday, 17 November 2011 18:49:20 UTC+5:30, kimchy wrote: > Heya, > > By default in elasticsearch, the \_source (the document one indexed) is > stored. This means when you search, you can get the actual document source > back. Moreover, elasticsearch will automatically extract fields / objects > from the \_source and return them if you explicitly ask for it (as well as > possibly use it in other components, like highlighting). > > You can specify that a specific field is also stored. This menas that > the data for that field will be stored "on its own". Meaning that if you > ask for "field1" (which is stored), elasticsearch will identify that its > stored, and load it from the index instead of getting it from the \_source > (assuming \_source is enabled). > > When do you want to enable storing specific fields? Most times, you > don't. Fetching the \_source is fast and extracting it is fast as well. If > you have very large documents, where the cost of storing the \_source, or > the cost of parsing the \_source is high, you can explicitly map some fields > to be stored instead. > > Note, there is a cost of retrieving each stored field. So, for example, > if you have a json with 10 fields with reasonable size, and you map all of > them as stored, and ask for all of them, this means loading each one (more > disk seeks), compared to just loading the \_source (which is one field, > possibly compressed). > > -shay.banon > > On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 7:51 AM, David Pilato [david@pilato.fr](mailto:david@pilato.fr) wrote: > > > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/source-field.html) > > > > David 😉 > > @dadoonet > > > > Le 17 nov. 2011 à 05:57, Nick Hoffman [nick@deadorange.com](mailto:nick@deadorange.com) a écrit : > > > > > Cool, that makes sense. Where/how does one configure whether or not the > > > whole document is stored? I looked around on the ES website, but couldn't > > > find this detail. ---
**Author:** ![Saurabh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Saurabh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Saurabh)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/16 "2012-06-13T11:19:10Z")
Also how to mark \_source as not stored? On Thursday, 17 November 2011 18:49:20 UTC+5:30, kimchy wrote: > Heya, > > By default in elasticsearch, the \_source (the document one indexed) is > stored. This means when you search, you can get the actual document source > back. Moreover, elasticsearch will automatically extract fields / objects > from the \_source and return them if you explicitly ask for it (as well as > possibly use it in other components, like highlighting). > > You can specify that a specific field is also stored. This menas that > the data for that field will be stored "on its own". Meaning that if you > ask for "field1" (which is stored), elasticsearch will identify that its > stored, and load it from the index instead of getting it from the \_source > (assuming \_source is enabled). > > When do you want to enable storing specific fields? Most times, you > don't. Fetching the \_source is fast and extracting it is fast as well. If > you have very large documents, where the cost of storing the \_source, or > the cost of parsing the \_source is high, you can explicitly map some fields > to be stored instead. > > Note, there is a cost of retrieving each stored field. So, for example, > if you have a json with 10 fields with reasonable size, and you map all of > them as stored, and ask for all of them, this means loading each one (more > disk seeks), compared to just loading the \_source (which is one field, > possibly compressed). > > -shay.banon > > On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 7:51 AM, David Pilato [david@pilato.fr](mailto:david@pilato.fr) wrote: > > > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/source-field.html) > > > > David 😉 > > @dadoonet > > > > Le 17 nov. 2011 à 05:57, Nick Hoffman [nick@deadorange.com](mailto:nick@deadorange.com) a écrit : > > > > > Cool, that makes sense. Where/how does one configure whether or not the > > > whole document is stored? I looked around on the ES website, but couldn't > > > find this detail. ---
**Author:** ![Ivan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/df788c/32.png) [@Ivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ivan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/17 "2012-06-13T17:04:50Z")
You can specify how source is handled (stored,not-stored,compressed) in the mapping: > **[Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale](https://www.elastic.co)** > > Power insights and outcomes with the Elasticsearch Platform and AI. See into your data and find answers that matter with enterprise solutions designed to help you build, observe, and protect. Try Elasticsearch free today. On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 4:19 AM, Saurabh [saurabh.k1510@gmail.com](mailto:saurabh.k1510@gmail.com) wrote: > Also how to mark \_source as not stored? > > On Thursday, 17 November 2011 18:49:20 UTC+5:30, kimchy wrote: > > > Heya, > > > > By default in elasticsearch, the \_source (the document one indexed) is > > stored. This means when you search, you can get the actual document source > > back. Moreover, elasticsearch will automatically extract fields / objects > > from the \_source and return them if you explicitly ask for it (as well as > > possibly use it in other components, like highlighting). > > > > You can specify that a specific field is also stored. This menas that > > the data for that field will be stored "on its own". Meaning that if you ask > > for "field1" (which is stored), elasticsearch will identify that its stored, > > and load it from the index instead of getting it from the \_source (assuming > > \_source is enabled). > > > > When do you want to enable storing specific fields? Most times, you > > don't. Fetching the \_source is fast and extracting it is fast as well. If > > you have very large documents, where the cost of storing the \_source, or the > > cost of parsing the \_source is high, you can explicitly map some fields to > > be stored instead. > > > > Note, there is a cost of retrieving each stored field. So, for example, > > if you have a json with 10 fields with reasonable size, and you map all of > > them as stored, and ask for all of them, this means loading each one (more > > disk seeks), compared to just loading the \_source (which is one field, > > possibly compressed). > > > > -shay.banon > > > > On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 7:51 AM, David Pilato [david@pilato.fr](mailto:david@pilato.fr) wrote: > > > > > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/source-field.html) > > > > > > David 😉 > > > @dadoonet > > > > > > Le 17 nov. 2011 à 05:57, Nick Hoffman [nick@deadorange.com](mailto:nick@deadorange.com) a écrit : > > > > > > > Cool, that makes sense. Where/how does one configure whether or not the > > > > whole document is stored? I looked around on the ES website, but couldn't > > > > find this detail. ---
**Author:** ![Prashant\_Pal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Prashant\_Pal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Prashant_Pal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/18 "2014-09-22T12:43:30Z")
Hi All, Here I have a question as well for the same with respect to below scenario. 1. Say I am indexing a huge amount of data (say 500GB) per day. 2. It contains about 15 fields including attachments as well. 3. As per current arch \_source is set as default (enabled). 4. Almost all fields are set as store true as well. 5. Now I am firing two type of query: a) Retrieving docs on the basis of id which will give complete source and b) On the basis of some fields say 4 or 5 fields. So considering the above query for retrieval and amount of data, does it really make sense to store the source as well as individual field. Because ES internally returns the data as field as well even if it is not stored (but \_source is stored). As in some of the post I read retrieval from fields is faster in case we have less fields and less data. But what in case of large data, retrieving from fields is faster or retrieving from \_source. Please confirm for the same. ~Prashant ---
**Author:** ![nik9000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nik9000/32/44947_2.png) [@nik9000](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nik9000)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/19 "2014-09-22T13:41:16Z")
My understanding is that it is mostly more efficient to not store any fields and just let Elasticsearch load them from the source when needed. Nik -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAPmjWd1jz8QDjd074xhJm2bDetVH4svzSbWc7970oCYWQw6wOg%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAPmjWd1jz8QDjd074xhJm2bDetVH4svzSbWc7970oCYWQw6wOg%40mail.gmail.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). ---
**Author:** ![jprante](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jprante/32/44941_2.png) [@jprante](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jprante)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893/20 "2014-09-22T14:48:14Z")
Loading from \_source, especially in scripts, is slow, and uses additional memory. Also note that large \_source field is compressed, which adds another bit of CPU overhead. With stored fields, you have finer control over these issues. So it might make sense to compress large binary data fields > **[Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale](https://www.elastic.co)** > > Power insights and outcomes with the Elasticsearch Platform and AI. See into your data and find answers that matter with enterprise solutions designed to help you build, observe, and protect. Try Elasticsearch free today. Jörg On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 3:41 PM, Nikolas Everett [nik9000@gmail.com](mailto:nik9000@gmail.com) wrote: > My understanding is that it is mostly more efficient to not store any > fields and just let Elasticsearch load them from the source when needed. > > Nik > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > To view this discussion on the web visit > [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAPmjWd1jz8QDjd074xhJm2bDetVH4svzSbWc7970oCYWQw6wOg%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAPmjWd1jz8QDjd074xhJm2bDetVH4svzSbWc7970oCYWQw6wOg%40mail.gmail.com) > [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAPmjWd1jz8QDjd074xhJm2bDetVH4svzSbWc7970oCYWQw6wOg%40mail.gmail.com?utm\_medium=email&utm\_source=footer](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAPmjWd1jz8QDjd074xhJm2bDetVH4svzSbWc7970oCYWQw6wOg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer) > . > > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAKdsXoG5oynqESWuK3DvsFsebhpqb\_jj2uF0o4\_GUqKEhuQBVA%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAKdsXoG5oynqESWuK3DvsFsebhpqb_jj2uF0o4_GUqKEhuQBVA%40mail.gmail.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). [Next page](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-does-it-mean-to-store-a-field/5893.md?page=2)