# Index Template getting overwritten on when indexing first document **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [June 29, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580 "2015-06-29T22:04:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donnie\_McNeal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/donnie_mcneal/32/3508_2.png) [@Donnie\_McNeal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Donnie_McNeal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580/1 "2015-06-29T22:04:47Z")
I'm seeing a strange issue with my index templates in elasticsearch where Elasticsearch is overwriting the index templates I have defined with it's default mappings. I have a index template for all of my rpt\_\* indicies. When i do a GET /\_template I see. { "reporting\_template\_msghist":{ "order":0, "template":"rpt\_\*", "settings":{ ``` }, "mappings":{ "msgHistory":{ "properties":{ "date":{ "format":"dateOptionalTime", "type":"date" }, "campaignId":{ "index":"not_analyzed", "type":"string" }, "venueId":{ "index":"not_analyzed", "type":"string" }, "state":{ "index":"not_analyzed", "type":"string" } } } }, "aliases":{ } ``` } } I then create a new document (along with a new index) in the index rpt\_201506 with body: ``` { "campaignId": "abc-123-zxyz", "date": "2015-01-23T19:28:07.000+0000", "venueId": "venue_id", "state": "read" } ``` When I investigate the index mappings after the index and first document is created they are now: ``` "msgHistory":{ "properties":{ "date":{ "format":"dateOptionalTime", "type":"date" }, "campaignId":{ "type":"string" }, "venueId":{ "type":"string" }, "state":{ "type":"string" } } } ``` Hopefully, I'm just doing something stupid, but I didn't expect Elasticsearch to try and dynamically determine the mapping since I already had the index template mapping defined. ---
**Author:** ![nellicus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nellicus/32/51566_2.png) [@nellicus](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nellicus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580/2 "2015-06-29T22:20:10Z")
How are you inserting these? Template is honoured in my repro ``` PUT _template/reporting_template_msghist { "order": 0, "template": "rpt_*", "settings": {}, "mappings": { "msgHistory": { "properties": { "date": { "format": "dateOptionalTime", "type": "date" }, "campaignId": { "index": "not_analyzed", "type": "string" }, "venueId": { "index": "not_analyzed", "type": "string" }, "state": { "index": "not_analyzed", "type": "string" } } } }, "aliases": {} } PUT rpt_test/msgHistory/1 { "campaignId": "abc-123-zxyz", "date": "2015-01-23T19:28:07.000+0000", "venueId": "venue_id", "state": "read" } GET rpt_test/_mapping ``` returns ``` { "rpt_test": { "mappings": { "msgHistory": { "properties": { "campaignId": { "type": "string", "index": "not_analyzed" }, "date": { "type": "date", "format": "dateOptionalTime" }, "state": { "type": "string", "index": "not_analyzed" }, "venueId": { "type": "string", "index": "not_analyzed" } } } } } } ``` ---
**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:** [June 29, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580/3 "2015-06-29T22:24:21Z")
Are you setting the `msgHistory` type for your document when you index? ---
**Author:** ![Donnie\_McNeal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/donnie_mcneal/32/3508_2.png) [@Donnie\_McNeal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Donnie_McNeal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580/4 "2015-06-29T22:27:44Z")
@nellicus I'm using the java client to create the index template and document. I'm currently retrying using just the REST API directly. ---
**Author:** ![Donnie\_McNeal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/donnie_mcneal/32/3508_2.png) [@Donnie\_McNeal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Donnie_McNeal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580/5 "2015-06-29T22:28:27Z")
@warkolm I'm pretty sure I am setting the type, but I will double check. ---
**Author:** ![Donnie\_McNeal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/donnie_mcneal/32/3508_2.png) [@Donnie\_McNeal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Donnie_McNeal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580/6 "2015-06-29T23:17:50Z")
Thanks for the help. I am a little further along. It looks like there is something wrong the way I'm adding the index template through the java API. I have copied a sample of the code I am using: ``` XContentBuilder json = jsonBuilder() .startObject() .startObject("properties") .startObject("campaignId") .field("type", "string") .field("index", "not_analyzed") .endObject() .startObject("date") .field("type", "date") .field("format", "dateOptionalTime") .endObject() .startObject("state") .field("type", "string") .field("index", "not_analyzed") .endObject() .startObject("venueId") .field("type", "string") .field("index", "not_analyzed") .endObject() .endObject() .endObject(); client.admin().indices().preparePutTemplate("reporting_template_msghist") .setTemplate("rpt_*") .addMapping("msgHistory", json) .execute() .actionGet(); ``` ---
**Author:** ![Donnie\_McNeal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/donnie_mcneal/32/3508_2.png) [@Donnie\_McNeal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Donnie_McNeal)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580/7 "2015-06-30T03:08:26Z")
I have tracked down my problem to an issue in the Java API (i think) - [https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/10436](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/10436) Thanks for the help. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-template-getting-overwritten-on-when-indexing-first-document/24580/8 "2017-07-06T00:04:39Z")