# ES 5.6.3: Can we still not update the data type of a field?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-5-6-3-can-we-still-not-update-the-data-type-of-a-field/107480>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [November 14, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-5-6-3-can-we-still-not-update-the-data-type-of-a-field/107480 "2017-11-14T02:51:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![suchitgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@suchitgupta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/suchitgupta)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-5-6-3-can-we-still-not-update-the-data-type-of-a-field/107480/1 "2017-11-14T02:51:08Z")

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I am using ES 5.6.6 and want to know is it possible to change the data type of a field?

I guess it was not possible in past so we use to create new field with new data type and then copy the values of existing field to the new field. Is it the same or with ES 5.6 we can change the data type of field

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**Author:** ![varun\_kumar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/varun_kumar/32/24170_2.png) [@varun\_kumar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/varun_kumar)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-5-6-3-can-we-still-not-update-the-data-type-of-a-field/107480/2 "2017-11-14T02:56:39Z")

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Changing field type fundamentally changes the index, hence this should not be possible with any version of ES.  
However, these links might help in reducing the pain. [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-mutate.html#plugins-filters-mutate-convert](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-mutate.html#plugins-filters-mutate-convert) and [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-csv.html#plugins-filters-csv-convert](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-csv.html#plugins-filters-csv-convert)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![suchitgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@suchitgupta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/suchitgupta)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-5-6-3-can-we-still-not-update-the-data-type-of-a-field/107480/3 "2017-11-15T18:41:35Z")

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Thanks!!

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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:** [December 13, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es-5-6-3-can-we-still-not-update-the-data-type-of-a-field/107480/4 "2017-12-13T18:41:51Z")

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