diff --git a/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/AbstractElasticIndex.java b/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/AbstractElasticIndex.java
index 8667fed71d..4ab1409f9e 100644
--- a/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/AbstractElasticIndex.java
+++ b/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/AbstractElasticIndex.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 import static org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64.decodeBase64;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.FluentIterable;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import com.google.common.io.CharStreams;
 import com.google.gerrit.elasticsearch.ElasticMapping.MappingProperties;
 import com.google.gerrit.elasticsearch.builders.SearchSourceBuilder;
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@ abstract class AbstractElasticIndex<K, V> implements Index<K, V> {
   protected static final String MAPPINGS = "mappings";
   protected static final String ORDER = "order";
   protected static final String SEARCH = "_search";
+  protected static final String SETTINGS = "settings";
 
   protected static <T> List<T> decodeProtos(
       JsonObject doc, String fieldName, ProtobufCodec<T> codec) {
@@ -156,7 +158,8 @@ abstract class AbstractElasticIndex<K, V> implements Index<K, V> {
     }
 
     // Recreate the index.
-    response = performRequest("PUT", getMappings(), indexName, Collections.emptyMap());
+    String indexCreationFields = concatJsonString(getSettings(), getMappings());
+    response = performRequest("PUT", indexCreationFields, indexName, Collections.emptyMap());
     statusCode = response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode();
     if (statusCode != HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
       String error = String.format("Failed to create index %s: %s", indexName, statusCode);
@@ -168,6 +171,10 @@ abstract class AbstractElasticIndex<K, V> implements Index<K, V> {
 
   protected abstract String getMappings();
 
+  private String getSettings() {
+    return gson.toJson(ImmutableMap.of(SETTINGS, ElasticSetting.createSetting()));
+  }
+
   protected abstract String getId(V v);
 
   protected String getMappingsForSingleType(String candidateType, MappingProperties properties) {
@@ -225,6 +232,10 @@ abstract class AbstractElasticIndex<K, V> implements Index<K, V> {
     return performRequest("POST", payload, uri, params);
   }
 
+  private String concatJsonString(String target, String addition) {
+    return target.substring(0, target.length() - 1) + "," + addition.substring(1);
+  }
+
   private Response performRequest(
       String method, Object payload, String uri, Map<String, String> params) throws IOException {
     String payloadStr = payload instanceof String ? (String) payload : payload.toString();
diff --git a/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/ElasticMapping.java b/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/ElasticMapping.java
index e9f3cb3971..9fcbaabcc8 100644
--- a/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/ElasticMapping.java
+++ b/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/ElasticMapping.java
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ class ElasticMapping {
           || fieldType == FieldType.INTEGER_RANGE
           || fieldType == FieldType.LONG) {
         mapping.addNumber(name);
-      } else if (fieldType == FieldType.PREFIX
-          || fieldType == FieldType.FULL_TEXT
-          || fieldType == FieldType.STORED_ONLY) {
+      } else if (fieldType == FieldType.FULL_TEXT) {
+        mapping.addStringWithAnalyzer(name);
+      } else if (fieldType == FieldType.PREFIX || fieldType == FieldType.STORED_ONLY) {
         mapping.addString(name);
       } else {
         throw new IllegalStateException("Unsupported field type: " + fieldType.getName());
@@ -88,6 +88,13 @@ class ElasticMapping {
       return this;
     }
 
+    Builder addStringWithAnalyzer(String name) {
+      FieldProperties key = new FieldProperties(adapter.stringFieldType());
+      key.analyzer = "custom_with_char_filter";
+      fields.put(name, key);
+      return this;
+    }
+
     Builder add(String name, String type) {
       fields.put(name, new FieldProperties(type));
       return this;
@@ -102,6 +109,7 @@ class ElasticMapping {
     String type;
     String index;
     String format;
+    String analyzer;
     Map<String, FieldProperties> fields;
 
     FieldProperties(String type) {
diff --git a/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/ElasticSetting.java b/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/ElasticSetting.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6fd234d6aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gerrit-elasticsearch/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/elasticsearch/ElasticSetting.java
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2018 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.google.gerrit.elasticsearch;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+class ElasticSetting {
+  /** The custom char mappings of "." to " " and "_" to " " in the form of UTF-8 */
+  private static final ImmutableMap<String, String> CUSTOM_CHAR_MAPPING =
+      ImmutableMap.of("\\u002E", "\\u0020", "\\u005F", "\\u0020");
+
+  static SettingProperties createSetting() {
+    ElasticSetting.Builder settings = new ElasticSetting.Builder();
+    settings.addCharFilter();
+    settings.addAnalyzer();
+    return settings.build();
+  }
+
+  static class Builder {
+    private final ImmutableMap.Builder<String, FieldProperties> fields =
+        new ImmutableMap.Builder<>();
+
+    SettingProperties build() {
+      SettingProperties properties = new SettingProperties();
+      properties.analysis = fields.build();
+      return properties;
+    }
+
+    void addCharFilter() {
+      FieldProperties charMapping = new FieldProperties("mapping");
+      charMapping.mappings = getCustomCharMappings(CUSTOM_CHAR_MAPPING);
+
+      FieldProperties charFilter = new FieldProperties();
+      charFilter.customMapping = charMapping;
+      fields.put("char_filter", charFilter);
+    }
+
+    void addAnalyzer() {
+      FieldProperties customAnalyzer = new FieldProperties("custom");
+      customAnalyzer.tokenizer = "standard";
+      customAnalyzer.charFilter = new String[] {"custom_mapping"};
+      customAnalyzer.filter = new String[] {"lowercase"};
+
+      FieldProperties analyzer = new FieldProperties();
+      analyzer.customWithCharFilter = customAnalyzer;
+      fields.put("analyzer", analyzer);
+    }
+
+    private static String[] getCustomCharMappings(ImmutableMap<String, String> map) {
+      int mappingIndex = 0;
+      int numOfMappings = map.size();
+      String[] mapping = new String[numOfMappings];
+      for (Map.Entry<String, String> e : map.entrySet()) {
+        mapping[mappingIndex++] = e.getKey() + "=>" + e.getValue();
+      }
+      return mapping;
+    }
+  }
+
+  static class SettingProperties {
+    Map<String, FieldProperties> analysis;
+  }
+
+  static class FieldProperties {
+    String tokenizer;
+    String type;
+    String[] charFilter;
+    String[] filter;
+    String[] mappings;
+    FieldProperties customMapping;
+    FieldProperties customWithCharFilter;
+
+    FieldProperties() {}
+
+    FieldProperties(String type) {
+      this.type = type;
+    }
+  }
+}