elasticsearch/docs/reference/mapping/params/norms.asciidoc

[[norms]]
=== `norms`

Norms store various normalization factors -- a number to represent the
relative field length and the <<index-boost,index time `boost`>> setting --
that are later used at query time in order to compute the score of a document
relatively to a query.

Although useful for scoring, norms also require quite a lot of memory
(typically in the order of one byte per document per field in your index, even
for documents that don't have this specific field). As a consequence, if you
don't need scoring on a specific field, you should disable norms on that
field. In  particular, this is the case for fields that are used solely for
filtering or aggregations.

TIP: The `norms.enabled` setting must have the same setting for fields of the
same name in the same index.  Norms can be disabled on existing fields using
the <<indices-put-mapping,PUT mapping API>>.

Norms can be disabled (but not reenabled) after the fact, using the
<<indices-put-mapping,PUT mapping API>> like so:

[source,js]
------------
PUT my_index/_mapping/my_type
{
  "properties": {
    "title": {
      "type": "string",
      "norms": {
        "enabled": false
      }
    }
  }
}
------------
// AUTOSENSE

NOTE: Norms will not be removed instantly, but will be removed as old segments
are merged into new segments as you continue indexing new documents. Any score
computation on a field that has had norms removed might return inconsistent
results since some documents won't have norms anymore while other documents
might still have norms.


==== Lazy loading of norms

Norms can be loaded into memory eagerly (`eager`), whenever a new segment
comes online, or they can loaded lazily (`lazy`, default), only when the field
is queried.

Eager loading can be configured as follows:

[source,js]
------------
PUT my_index/_mapping/my_type
{
  "properties": {
    "title": {
      "type": "string",
      "norms": {
        "loading": "eager"
      }
    }
  }
}
------------
// AUTOSENSE

TIP: The `norms.loading` setting must have the same setting for fields of the
same name in the same index.  Its value can be updated on existing fields
using the <<indices-put-mapping,PUT mapping API>>.