diff --git a/solr/src/common/org/apache/solr/common/params/GroupParams.java b/solr/src/common/org/apache/solr/common/params/GroupParams.java
index 6f2f2ff9fc0..8e75d1beb0b 100755
--- a/solr/src/common/org/apache/solr/common/params/GroupParams.java
+++ b/solr/src/common/org/apache/solr/common/params/GroupParams.java
@@ -35,5 +35,8 @@ public interface GroupParams {
 
   /** treat the first group result as the main result.  true/false */
   public static final String GROUP_MAIN = GROUP + ".main";
+
+  /** treat the first group result as the main result.  true/false */
+  public static final String GROUP_FORMAT = GROUP + ".format";
 }
 
diff --git a/solr/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/QueryComponent.java b/solr/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/QueryComponent.java
index e7e137b2e63..00dc0e6f91d 100644
--- a/solr/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/QueryComponent.java
+++ b/solr/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/QueryComponent.java
@@ -307,6 +307,8 @@ public class QueryComponent extends SearchComponent
         String[] queries = params.getParams(GroupParams.GROUP_QUERY);
         String groupSortStr = params.get(GroupParams.GROUP_SORT);
         boolean main = params.getBool(GroupParams.GROUP_MAIN, false);
+        String format = params.get(GroupParams.GROUP_FORMAT);
+        Grouping.Format defaultFormat = "simple".equals(format) ? Grouping.Format.Simple : Grouping.Format.Grouped; 
 
         // groupSort defaults to sort
         Sort groupSort = groupSortStr == null ? cmd.getSort() : QueryParsing.parseSort(groupSortStr, req);
@@ -345,10 +347,15 @@ public class QueryComponent extends SearchComponent
             gc.groupOffset = groupOffsetDefault;
             gc.offset = cmd.getOffset();
             gc.sort = cmd.getSort();
+            gc.format = defaultFormat;
 
             if (main) {
               gc.main = true;
+              gc.format = Grouping.Format.Simple;
               main = false;
+            }
+
+            if (gc.format == Grouping.Format.Simple) {
               gc.groupOffset = 0;  // doesn't make sense
             }
 
@@ -372,9 +379,14 @@ public class QueryComponent extends SearchComponent
             gc.offset = cmd.getOffset();
             gc.numGroups = limitDefault;
 
+            gc.format = defaultFormat;            
+
             if (main) {
               gc.main = true;
+              gc.format = Grouping.Format.Simple;
               main = false;
+            }
+            if (gc.format == Grouping.Format.Simple) {
               gc.docsPerGroup = gc.numGroups;  // doesn't make sense to limit to one
               gc.groupOffset = gc.offset;
             }
diff --git a/solr/src/java/org/apache/solr/search/Grouping.java b/solr/src/java/org/apache/solr/search/Grouping.java
index 27291b9adde..a4d119787a8 100755
--- a/solr/src/java/org/apache/solr/search/Grouping.java
+++ b/solr/src/java/org/apache/solr/search/Grouping.java
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ public class Grouping {
       int max = collector.getTotalHits();
       int off = groupOffset;
       int len = docsPerGroup;
-      if (main) {
+      if (format == Format.Simple) {
         off = offset;
         len = numGroups;
       }
@@ -181,8 +181,8 @@ public class Grouping {
       int docsToCollect = getMax(groupOffset, docsPerGroup, maxDoc);
       docsToCollect = Math.max(docsToCollect, 1);
 
-      // if this for the main result, don't skip groups (since we are counting docs, not groups)
-      int collectorOffset = main ? 0 : offset;
+      // if the format is simple, don't skip groups (since we are counting docs, not groups)
+      int collectorOffset = format==Format.Simple ? 0 : offset;
 
       if (groupBy instanceof StrFieldSource) {
         collector2 = new Phase2StringGroupCollector(collector, groupBy, context, groupSort, docsToCollect, needScores, collectorOffset);
@@ -195,12 +195,17 @@ public class Grouping {
     @Override
     void finish() throws IOException {
       if (main) {
-        createMainResponse();
+        mainResult = createSimpleResponse();
         return;
       }
 
       NamedList groupResult = commonResponse();
 
+      if (format == Format.Simple) {
+        groupResult.add("doclist", createSimpleResponse());
+        return;
+      }
+
       List groupList = new ArrayList();
       groupResult.add("groups", groupList);        // grouped={ key={ groups=[
 
@@ -225,7 +230,7 @@ public class Grouping {
       }
     }
 
-    private void createMainResponse() {
+    private DocList createSimpleResponse() {
       int docCount = numGroups;
       int docOffset = offset;    
       int docsToGather = getMax(docOffset, docCount, maxDoc);
@@ -273,7 +278,7 @@ public class Grouping {
           idSet.add(iter.nextDoc());
       }
 
-      mainResult = docs;
+      return docs;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/solr/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestGroupingSearch.java b/solr/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestGroupingSearch.java
index d094f990b83..f095d41863e 100644
--- a/solr/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestGroupingSearch.java
+++ b/solr/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestGroupingSearch.java
@@ -344,6 +344,12 @@ public class TestGroupingSearch extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
     assertJQ(req("fq",filt,  "q","{!func}"+f2, "group","true", "group.field",f, "fl","id", "rows","3", "start","1", "group.limit","2", "group.main","true")
         ,"/response=={'numFound':10,'start':1,'docs':[{'id':'10'},{'id':'3'},{'id':'6'}]}"
     );
+
+    ///////////////////////// group.format == simple
+    assertJQ(req("fq",filt,  "q","{!func}"+f2, "group","true", "group.field",f, "fl","id", "rows","3", "start","1", "group.limit","2", "group.format","simple")
+    , "/grouped/foo_i=={'matches':10,'doclist':"
+        +"{'numFound':10,'start':1,'docs':[{'id':'10'},{'id':'3'},{'id':'6'}]}}"
+    );
   };