# Can't select timestamp field in Kibana **URL:** \ **Category:** Kibana\ **Created:** [March 27, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-select-timestamp-field-in-kibana/125803 "2018-03-27T19:18:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![arisbanach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f07891/32.png) [@arisbanach](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/arisbanach)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-select-timestamp-field-in-kibana/125803/1 "2018-03-27T19:18:46Z")
I noticed that Kibana only shows the first 45-ish date fields in an index pattern in the dropdown box when you're adding a new index pattern. However, my ES index has more than 45 date fields, and the one I need to set as the timestamp is not listed in the dropdown at all since the others are pushing it down. How can I get around this? ---
**Author:** ![tsullivan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tsullivan/32/31077_2.png) [@tsullivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tsullivan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-select-timestamp-field-in-kibana/125803/2 "2018-03-27T23:41:25Z")
Which version of Kibana are we talking about. This screenshot shows the latest version, will this not show more than 45 fields if more than 45 fields are mapped as `date`? ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/f/d/fd67df65b514a14971f86aabcb747455fc1b2356.png) ---
**Author:** ![arisbanach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f07891/32.png) [@arisbanach](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/arisbanach)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 12:26am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-select-timestamp-field-in-kibana/125803/3 "2018-03-28T00:26:09Z")
Yes, correct. Version 6.0.1 ---
**Author:** ![tsullivan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tsullivan/32/31077_2.png) [@tsullivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tsullivan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-select-timestamp-field-in-kibana/125803/4 "2018-03-28T03:15:45Z")
Well, unfortunately it looks like is something that needs improvement in the Kibana code. Would you mind filing an issue about this? [http://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues](http://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues) If this is 100% blocking you, you can find the document in the `.kibana` index that represents your index pattern, and manually update the `timeFieldName` value: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/e/8/e858dd698acb5730cb4cc7ce5b02b78cab160141.png) ---
**Author:** ![arisbanach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f07891/32.png) [@arisbanach](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/arisbanach)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-select-timestamp-field-in-kibana/125803/5 "2018-03-28T13:41:38Z")
Actually, I'm not 100% sure about this now. What I'm doing is using ElasticPress (a WordPress plugin which syncs WordPress with Elasticsearch) and when it originally created the index, the `post_date` field was recognized as a time format. Then I deleted the index and restarted ElasticPress's sync and I couldn't find the `post_date` field as an option in Kibana for a timestamp, and posted here. Now I realized that `post_date` is now a text field. Not sure why though. I'll talk to ElasticPress about it since I'm guessing it's really that they aren't sending a mapping template when indexing. ---
**Author:** ![tsullivan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tsullivan/32/31077_2.png) [@tsullivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tsullivan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-select-timestamp-field-in-kibana/125803/6 "2018-03-28T16:17:32Z")
> [@arisbanach](#): > > Then I deleted the index and restarted ElasticPress's sync and I couldn't find the post\_date field as an option in Kibana for a timestamp, and posted here. Now I realized that post\_date is now a text field. Sounds like what happened is that ElasticPress set the mappings for the index at the time of creating the index [1], but didn't create an index template, or that the index template also got deleted somehow. Take a look at the documentation for index templates - they will get your data mapped correctly for any newly created indices that match a pattern. In other words, any time you create a new `wordpress-*` index, the `post_date` fields will automatically get mapped as date. > **[Index templates | Elasticsearch Guide \[8.11\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-templates.html)** Example, imagining that the ElasticPress indices have an index pattern of `wordpress-*`, and the documents have a type of `doc`: ```auto PUT _template/elasticpress { "index_patterns": ["wordpress-*"], "settings": { "number_of_shards": 1 }, "mappings": { "doc": { "properties": { "post_date": { "type": "date", "format": "EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss Z YYYY" } } } } } ``` [1] The first time but not the second time? Not sure, really ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cant-select-timestamp-field-in-kibana/125803/7 "2018-04-25T16:17:50Z")
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