diff --git a/docs/reference/indices/open-close.asciidoc b/docs/reference/indices/open-close.asciidoc
index 2d8e6efa3d130..4a245a7316d13 100644
--- a/docs/reference/indices/open-close.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/indices/open-close.asciidoc
@@ -7,6 +7,15 @@ for maintaining its metadata), and is blocked for read/write operations.
 A closed index can be opened which will then go through the normal
 recovery process.
 
+IMPORTANT: {es} will not rebuild any copies of shards of closed indices that
+are lost when a node leaves your cluster. This means you will should expect to
+lose the data held in closed indices if you replace the nodes in your cluster
+over time. Because of the risk of data loss it is best to avoid keeping closed
+indices in your cluster for a long period of time. You should instead prefer to
+<<frozen-indices,freeze>> indices that you want to keep available for
+occasional searches with low overhead, and store any other indices outside the
+cluster using a <<modules-snapshots,snapshot>>.
+
 The REST endpoint is `/{index}/_close` and `/{index}/_open`. For
 example: