# Purpose of @timestamp field in data stream
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/purpose-of-timestamp-field-in-data-stream/288183
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Tags:** datastreams
**Created:** [November 2, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/purpose-of-timestamp-field-in-data-stream/288183 "2021-11-02T02:41:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rhsp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rhsp)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/purpose-of-timestamp-field-in-data-stream/288183/1 "2021-11-02T02:41:51Z")
I am confused by the need for the mandatory @timestamp as it does not seem to be used in any part of the data stream. The date on the index is based on creation date instead of the @timestamp field. Rollover also seem to depend on the age of the index rather than the @timestamp field. It seems to me that even without the field, the data stream would have functioned just fine. Is there something I am missing? Why is it a requirement to include the @timestamp field? What is the field used for?
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/purpose-of-timestamp-field-in-data-stream/288183/2 "2021-11-02T03:11:37Z")
Welcome to our community! 😃
It's used in Kibana, to plot time based graphs.
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### Author:  [@rhsp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rhsp)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/purpose-of-timestamp-field-in-data-stream/288183/3 "2021-11-02T03:28:31Z")
Does that mean that when I create a data stream, visualizations will also be created at the same time?
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2021, 5:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/purpose-of-timestamp-field-in-data-stream/288183/4 "2021-11-02T05:23:41Z")
That'll depend if you are using a module from one of the Beats or not, otherwise, no.
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### Author:  [@rhsp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rhsp)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2021, 5:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/purpose-of-timestamp-field-in-data-stream/288183/5 "2021-11-02T05:56:52Z")
Alright, thank you!
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2021, 5:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/purpose-of-timestamp-field-in-data-stream/288183/6 "2021-11-30T05:57:50Z")
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