How to reset index without a following full crawl

Question

I would like to reduce our SharePoint Test environment disk size. Since we are not using the search feature on this test environment, I would like to purge all the index files to save space. I understand that by doing a index reset, SharePoint is able to clear all the index files. However, if I'm not mistaken, there will be a full crawl automatically kicks in after the index reset. Then the disk size will increase again.

My question is how to stop this following full crawl from kicking in. I'm thinking perhaps stopping the search service but I don't want to stop it if it is already running immediately after the index reset is done. Is there a gap between the completion of the index reset to the following full crawl? If there is, Is this gap based on time (next scheduled search service to be run) or a manual trigger (someone who used the search function for the first time after the index reset)? I just would like to find the right opportunity to stop the crawl without halting it while it's running or about to run. If that makes sense.

Environment: SharePoint 2013 On Prem

Answer 1

Hello @Y.L ,

As you said, after resetting the search index, you must perform a Full crawl of one or more content sources to create a new search index, enabling users to retrieve search results again.

But you can choose not to perform a Full crawl. Whether the Full crawl is triggered automatically based on time or manually is up to you settings. Generally speaking, a Full crawl needs to be triggered manually, unless you create a Full crawl schedule. If you create a Full crawl schedule, you could delete it.

Check if a Full crawl schedule is set:

1）SharePoint Central Administration >> Manage service applications >> Search Service Application
2）On the Search_Service_Application_Name: Search Administration page, in the Quick Launch, click Content Sources
3）Manage Content Sources page, click the SharePoint content source for which you want to enable continuous crawl.
4）In the Crawl Schedules section, check if create a Full crawl schedule.

Thanks,
Echo Du

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