# 'preserve\_existing' documentation update

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preserve-existing-documentation-update/240836>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [July 12, 2020, 11:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preserve-existing-documentation-update/240836 "2020-07-12T11:56:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tworogue](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tworogue/32/45591_2.png) [@tworogue](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tworogue)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 11:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preserve-existing-documentation-update/240836/1 "2020-07-12T11:56:50Z")

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Hello.

**Topic:**

I have a proposal regarding one piece of documentation:  
Please check my PR: [Update update-settings.asciidoc by tworogue · Pull Request #1 · tworogue/elasticsearch · GitHub](https://github.com/tworogue/elasticsearch/pull/1/files)  
Do you agree with it?

* * *

**Some more detail:**

That's how it's written in the docs now:

> `preserve_existing`  
> (Optional, boolean) If `true` , existing index settings remain unchanged. Defaults to `false` .

Actally, when I update my indices settings with `preserve_existing=true`, index settings **are changed** , but **they set back to previous settings** after my cluster is restarted.

I think we should stress that specificity in documentation in more detail.  
Because **changes** actually **take effect** until the restart, not **"remain unchanged"**.

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**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preserve-existing-documentation-update/240836/2 "2020-07-12T13:34:04Z")

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That sounds like a bug to me, not a documentation issue; would you write up some instructions on how to reproduce it and open a bug report on Github?

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**Author:** ![tworogue](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tworogue/32/45591_2.png) [@tworogue](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tworogue)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preserve-existing-documentation-update/240836/3 "2020-07-12T19:28:58Z")

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Ok.  
I was able to reproduce the problem on 6.8.2 a couple of days ago.  
However, it all works for me on 7.8.0.

I could try to reproduce it again on 6.8.2 and open a bug report, if I will still have the problem.  
Although, as I can see, 6.8.2 meets EOL really soon: [https://www.elastic.co/support/eol](https://www.elastic.co/support/eol)  
And it's probably easier to just switch to the newer version.  
Do you think my input could be helpful?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preserve-existing-documentation-update/240836/4 "2020-07-12T20:00:31Z")

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Thanks for checking. The 6.8 branch will live on for several months so a bug report would be appreciated, although if it's been fixed in 7.x then maybe it was already reported.

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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:** [August 9, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/preserve-existing-documentation-update/240836/5 "2020-08-09T20:00:45Z")

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