# Changing field type in Kibana UI

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-field-type-in-kibana-ui/129896
**Category:** Kibana
**Created:** [April 27, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-field-type-in-kibana-ui/129896 "2018-04-27T22:59:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![cactus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@cactus](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/cactus)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-field-type-in-kibana-ui/129896/1 "2018-04-27T22:59:53Z")

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Hello,

I need to change field type from string to text, can I do it via Kibana in index patterns-\>fields or should it be done via static mapping in elasticsearch default template. What is the difference?

Thanks

Kibana version Version: 5.6.8  
ES version 5.6

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### Author: ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2018, 12:32am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-field-type-in-kibana-ui/129896/2 "2018-04-28T00:32:30Z")

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You should set it with a specific mapping and then reindex.

Doing it in Kibana won't actually do anything other than pretend it's text and not a string, which will likely cause problems.

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### Author: ![cactus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@cactus](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/cactus)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-field-type-in-kibana-ui/129896/3 "2018-04-28T14:08:40Z")

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Thank you!

Why this functionality was added to Kibana if it will not solve fields conflicts?

And to finish this topic - all changes which is related to mapping\fields should be done in elastic, right?

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-field-type-in-kibana-ui/129896/4 "2018-04-30T00:39:31Z")

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> [@cactus](#):
>
> Why this functionality was added to Kibana if it will not solve fields conflicts?

I don't know why, but it doesn't actually do that.

> [@cactus](#):
>
> And to finish this topic - all changes which is related to mapping\fields should be done in elastic, right?

Yep.

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### Author: ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-field-type-in-kibana-ui/129896/5 "2018-05-28T00:39:32Z")

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