diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 7cb1456f..3569132d 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Changelog
 
 Changes in 0.8.4
 ================
+- Fixed indexing - turn off _cls (#414)
 - Fixed dereference threading issue in ComplexField.__get__ (#412)
 - Fixed QuerySetNoCache.count() caching (#410)
 - Don't follow references in _get_changed_fields (#422, #417)
diff --git a/docs/guide/defining-documents.rst b/docs/guide/defining-documents.rst
index bc78a666..407fbdac 100644
--- a/docs/guide/defining-documents.rst
+++ b/docs/guide/defining-documents.rst
@@ -442,6 +442,8 @@ The following example shows a :class:`Log` document that will be limited to
         ip_address = StringField()
         meta = {'max_documents': 1000, 'max_size': 2000000}
 
+.. defining-indexes_
+
 Indexes
 =======
 
@@ -485,6 +487,35 @@ If a dictionary is passed then the following options are available:
 
     Inheritance adds extra fields indices see: :ref:`document-inheritance`.
 
+Global index default options
+----------------------------
+
+There are a few top level defaults for all indexes that can be set::
+
+    class Page(Document):
+        title = StringField()
+        rating = StringField()
+        meta = {
+            'index_options': {},
+            'index_background': True,
+            'index_drop_dups': True,
+            'index_cls': False
+        }
+
+
+:attr:`index_options` (Optional)
+    Set any default index options - see the `full options list <http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/reference/method/db.collection.ensureIndex/#db.collection.ensureIndex>`_
+
+:attr:`index_background` (Optional)
+    Set the default value for if an index should be indexed in the background
+
+:attr:`index_drop_dups` (Optional)
+    Set the default value for if an index should drop duplicates
+
+:attr:`index_cls` (Optional)
+    A way to turn off a specific index for _cls.
+
+
 Compound Indexes and Indexing sub documents
 -------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/mongoengine/base/document.py b/mongoengine/base/document.py
index 80111f70..b9c07cf5 100644
--- a/mongoengine/base/document.py
+++ b/mongoengine/base/document.py
@@ -629,8 +629,10 @@ class BaseDocument(object):
         # Check to see if we need to include _cls
         allow_inheritance = cls._meta.get('allow_inheritance',
                                           ALLOW_INHERITANCE)
-        include_cls = allow_inheritance and not spec.get('sparse', False)
-
+        include_cls = (allow_inheritance and not spec.get('sparse', False) and
+                       spec.get('cls',  True))
+        if "cls" in spec:
+            spec.pop('cls')
         for key in spec['fields']:
             # If inherited spec continue
             if isinstance(key, (list, tuple)):
diff --git a/mongoengine/document.py b/mongoengine/document.py
index e331aa1f..2f3a92a5 100644
--- a/mongoengine/document.py
+++ b/mongoengine/document.py
@@ -536,6 +536,8 @@ class Document(BaseDocument):
     def ensure_indexes(cls):
         """Checks the document meta data and ensures all the indexes exist.
 
+        Global defaults can be set in the meta - see :doc:`guide/defining-documents`
+
         .. note:: You can disable automatic index creation by setting
                   `auto_create_index` to False in the documents meta data
         """
diff --git a/tests/document/indexes.py b/tests/document/indexes.py
index 04d56324..ccf84636 100644
--- a/tests/document/indexes.py
+++ b/tests/document/indexes.py
@@ -156,6 +156,25 @@ class IndexesTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual([{'fields': [('_cls', 1), ('title', 1)]}],
                          A._meta['index_specs'])
 
+    def test_index_no_cls(self):
+        """Ensure index specs are inhertited correctly"""
+
+        class A(Document):
+            title = StringField()
+            meta = {
+                'indexes': [
+                        {'fields': ('title',), 'cls': False},
+                ],
+                'allow_inheritance': True,
+                'index_cls': False
+                }
+
+        self.assertEqual([('title', 1)], A._meta['index_specs'][0]['fields'])
+        A._get_collection().drop_indexes()
+        A.ensure_indexes()
+        info = A._get_collection().index_information()
+        self.assertEqual(len(info.keys()), 2)
+
     def test_build_index_spec_is_not_destructive(self):
 
         class MyDoc(Document):