# When I index some documents and they are not refreshed yet, can I deleted them?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [March 22, 2016, 9:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085 "2016-03-22T09:48:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@makeyang](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/makeyang)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2016, 9:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085/1 "2016-03-22T09:48:13Z")
let's say I bulk insert some documents and then I want to delete them, can ES handle it properly? if so, how?
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2016, 10:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085/2 "2016-03-22T10:03:01Z")
Yes it can.
The easiest way to understand would be to read this chapter - [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/master/inside-a-shard.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/master/inside-a-shard.html)
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### Author:  [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2016, 10:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085/3 "2016-03-22T10:06:34Z")
If you have explicitly assigned IDs to the documents at the client prior to indexing them you can delete them using this before a refresh takes place and they are made searchable. If you however rely on Elasticsearch assigning the document IDs, you may need to wait until you can identify the documents through a query unless you are keeping track of the IDs being returned in the bulk request response.
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### Author:  [@makeyang](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/makeyang)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085/4 "2016-03-22T10:37:18Z")
so if I have id, I can delete it, if not, I can't. right?
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### Author:  [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2016, 10:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085/5 "2016-03-22T10:42:20Z")
I believe so but have not tested it. What is your use case?
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### Author:  [@makeyang](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/makeyang)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2016, 11:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085/6 "2016-03-22T11:09:42Z")
no use case right now. I'll do some test later. thank u
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-i-index-some-documents-and-they-are-not-refreshed-yet-can-i-deleted-them/45085/7 "2017-07-05T23:06:19Z")