# Added new field to index, how to enable it for all previous data?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/added-new-field-to-index-how-to-enable-it-for-all-previous-data/214625>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [January 10, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/added-new-field-to-index-how-to-enable-it-for-all-previous-data/214625 "2020-01-10T15:33:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IndiaSierra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6bbea6/32.png) [@IndiaSierra](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/IndiaSierra)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/added-new-field-to-index-how-to-enable-it-for-all-previous-data/214625/1 "2020-01-10T15:33:35Z")

</div>

We collect a great amount of logs from our systems. These logs are already stored in a field "message" as a normal string message.

I now added (via logstash filter) a field which is a very specific log with timing info i.e. "Process took 23s". The field will be named ProcessTimeInS and as value an integer with the amount of time it took.

This logline existed before so it should be in the "index.message" log lines (I can search for it in kibana and I get hits). If I understand correctly, when I reindex (using [this method](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/2.4/docs-reindex.html), is this field then enabled / filled for historic data?

If not, how do I make use of this new field for old data?

Thanks and apologies for the seemingly silly question.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/added-new-field-to-index-how-to-enable-it-for-all-previous-data/214625/2 "2020-02-07T15:33:38Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.