# Sort by string in kibana's discover (search)

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284
**Category:** Kibana
**Created:** [March 4, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284 "2021-03-04T19:59:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![elasticforme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f05b48/32.png) [@elasticforme](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elasticforme)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284/1 "2021-03-04T19:59:20Z")

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When I go to Kiban's discover and add fields I can sort on date field or Number field but I can't on string.

is this by design or I have to change some setting to enable this  
I am using version 7.10.1

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/b/6/b64b7ce93688972ef9f888c8ba310229feb5545d.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![aaron-nimocks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aaron-nimocks/32/73965_2.png) [@aaron-nimocks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/aaron-nimocks)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284/2 "2021-03-04T20:31:59Z")

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Is it a `text` or `keyword` in your mapping? You can't [sort](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/mapping-types.html) on `text`.

> However, `text` field values are [analyzed](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/analysis.html) for full-text search while `keyword` strings are left as-is for filtering and sorting.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![elasticforme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f05b48/32.png) [@elasticforme](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elasticforme)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284/3 "2021-03-04T21:15:30Z")

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```
"error_name": {
          "type": "text",
          "fields": {
            "keyword": {
              "type": "keyword",
              "ignore_above": 256
            }
          }
        },
```

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![aaron-nimocks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aaron-nimocks/32/73965_2.png) [@aaron-nimocks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/aaron-nimocks)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284/4 "2021-03-04T21:45:01Z")

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Do you need it to have a `text` mapping?

If you change it to the below it will work.

```auto
"error_name": {
 "type": "keyword"
}

```

But when a field also has a `text` mapping it won't let you sort. I am not sure if there is a way to specificy in Discover which one to use when you add a field to the table or not.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![aaron-nimocks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aaron-nimocks/32/73965_2.png) [@aaron-nimocks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/aaron-nimocks)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2021, 9:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284/5 "2021-03-04T21:51:07Z")

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Actually you can. Never knew this option existed.

Click on `Filter by Type` and `Hide Missing Fields` then you can see your `error_name.keyword`.

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/f/3/f3be1e3cd17ade88467724a64d08852403557832.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![elasticforme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f05b48/32.png) [@elasticforme](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elasticforme)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284/6 "2021-03-04T22:15:43Z")

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thank you @aaron-nimocks it worked exactly what I needed.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-by-string-in-kibanas-discover-search/266284/7 "2021-04-01T22:15:47Z")

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