# Set KIbana field format using APIs for .kibana index

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/set-kibana-field-format-using-apis-for-kibana-index/92352>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [July 8, 2017, 5:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/set-kibana-field-format-using-apis-for-kibana-index/92352 "2017-07-08T05:52:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![raazeev64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@raazeev64](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/raazeev64)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2017, 5:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/set-kibana-field-format-using-apis-for-kibana-index/92352/1 "2017-07-08T05:52:49Z")

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I have numeric fields which need to be displayed as`Percentage` or `Memory` format. I upload visualizations using a curl request to the visualization API. But then I need to set up the field formats manually from kibana.

Can we not set this filed format in the `.kibana` index somewhere? It must be storing the ones done from UI into the index.

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**Author:** ![Stacey\_Gammon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stacey_gammon/32/14025_2.png) [@Stacey\_Gammon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stacey_Gammon)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/set-kibana-field-format-using-apis-for-kibana-index/92352/2 "2017-07-10T14:06:09Z")

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The field formating information is stored in the `.kibana` index, in the `fieldFormatMap` field:

```auto
 "fieldFormatMap": """{"machine.ram":{"id":"percent"}}"""

```

Though you would need to know the correct format to update this manually, and it can change at any time. At the moment we don't have an officially supported API to update the field format mappings.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![raazeev64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@raazeev64](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/raazeev64)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 3:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/set-kibana-field-format-using-apis-for-kibana-index/92352/3 "2017-07-11T03:40:49Z")

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Thanks @Stacey_Gammon for the reply.

So, is it(API part) being taken care of in further releases or may we have a tracking bug for it? I reckon it is required because changing all the field formats from the Kibana UI is tideous when such fields are more in number.

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**Author:** ![Stacey\_Gammon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stacey_gammon/32/14025_2.png) [@Stacey\_Gammon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stacey_Gammon)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/set-kibana-field-format-using-apis-for-kibana-index/92352/4 "2017-07-11T13:27:42Z")

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Filed [https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/12756](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/12756)!

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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 8, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/set-kibana-field-format-using-apis-for-kibana-index/92352/5 "2017-08-08T13:27:45Z")

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