diff --git a/gerrit-lucene/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/lucene/LuceneChangeIndex.java b/gerrit-lucene/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/lucene/LuceneChangeIndex.java
index 64c7ed50c8..9ae5802b36 100644
--- a/gerrit-lucene/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/lucene/LuceneChangeIndex.java
+++ b/gerrit-lucene/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/lucene/LuceneChangeIndex.java
@@ -279,26 +279,6 @@ public class LuceneChangeIndex implements ChangeIndex {
     return schema;
   }
 
-  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
-  @Override
-  public void insert(ChangeData cd) throws IOException {
-    Term id = QueryBuilder.idTerm(cd);
-    Document doc = toDocument(cd);
-    try {
-      if (cd.change().getStatus().isOpen()) {
-        Futures.allAsList(
-            closedIndex.delete(id),
-            openIndex.insert(doc)).get();
-      } else {
-        Futures.allAsList(
-            openIndex.delete(id),
-            closedIndex.insert(doc)).get();
-      }
-    } catch (OrmException | ExecutionException | InterruptedException e) {
-      throw new IOException(e);
-    }
-  }
-
   @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
   @Override
   public void replace(ChangeData cd) throws IOException {
diff --git a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/ChangeIndex.java b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/ChangeIndex.java
index a710a108a3..eb74928b89 100644
--- a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/ChangeIndex.java
+++ b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/ChangeIndex.java
@@ -38,24 +38,13 @@ public interface ChangeIndex {
   /** Close this index. */
   public void close();
 
-  /**
-   * Insert a change document into the index.
-   * <p>
-   * Results may not be immediately visible to searchers, but should be visible
-   * within a reasonable amount of time.
-   *
-   * @param cd change document
-   *
-   * @throws IOException if the change could not be inserted.
-   */
-  public void insert(ChangeData cd) throws IOException;
-
   /**
    * Update a change document in the index.
    * <p>
    * Semantically equivalent to deleting the document and reinserting it with
-   * new field values. Results may not be immediately visible to searchers, but
-   * should be visible within a reasonable amount of time.
+   * new field values. A document that does not already exist is created. Results
+   * may not be immediately visible to searchers, but should be visible within a
+   * reasonable amount of time.
    *
    * @param cd change document
    *
diff --git a/gerrit-server/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/FakeIndex.java b/gerrit-server/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/FakeIndex.java
index 1b6ae4eb1d..9c1dd382b9 100644
--- a/gerrit-server/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/FakeIndex.java
+++ b/gerrit-server/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/FakeIndex.java
@@ -67,11 +67,6 @@ class FakeIndex implements ChangeIndex {
     this.schema = schema;
   }
 
-  @Override
-  public void insert(ChangeData cd) {
-    throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
-  }
-
   @Override
   public void replace(ChangeData cd) {
     throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
diff --git a/gerrit-solr/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/solr/SolrChangeIndex.java b/gerrit-solr/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/solr/SolrChangeIndex.java
index 8c8b0071ac..96ba032080 100644
--- a/gerrit-solr/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/solr/SolrChangeIndex.java
+++ b/gerrit-solr/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/solr/SolrChangeIndex.java
@@ -146,25 +146,6 @@ class SolrChangeIndex implements ChangeIndex, LifecycleListener {
     stop();
   }
 
-  @Override
-  public void insert(ChangeData cd) throws IOException {
-    String id = cd.getId().toString();
-    SolrInputDocument doc = toDocument(cd);
-    try {
-      if (cd.change().getStatus().isOpen()) {
-        closedIndex.deleteById(id);
-        openIndex.add(doc);
-      } else {
-        openIndex.deleteById(id);
-        closedIndex.add(doc);
-      }
-    } catch (OrmException | SolrServerException e) {
-      throw new IOException(e);
-    }
-    commit(openIndex);
-    commit(closedIndex);
-  }
-
   @Override
   public void replace(ChangeData cd) throws IOException {
     String id = cd.getId().toString();