# Having difficulty changing field type

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/having-difficulty-changing-field-type/360203>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [May 24, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/having-difficulty-changing-field-type/360203 "2024-05-24T19:38:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![roman-tasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ea924/32.png) [@roman-tasi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/roman-tasi)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/having-difficulty-changing-field-type/360203/1 "2024-05-24T19:38:36Z")

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In Index Template I am trying to change my `file` field from type `Text` to type `Keyword`, however when I do this and save the settings I get this error:

```auto
Unable to create template
Failed to parse mapping [_doc]: Unknown value [positions] for field [index_options] - accepted values are [docs, freqs]

```

Any advice?

This is for my `sysmon-*` index pattern.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PodarcisMuralis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/podarcismuralis/32/122606_2.png) [@PodarcisMuralis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/PodarcisMuralis)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/having-difficulty-changing-field-type/360203/2 "2024-05-25T19:57:13Z")

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As far as I know, if you add a new field it is ok, because new documents will be adapted with the new field.

But if you change an existing field, you must reindex the whole index.