# @timestamp in Elasticsearch

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/timestamp-in-elasticsearch/169742>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 24, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/timestamp-in-elasticsearch/169742 "2019-02-24T20:25:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sparkjonez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sparkjonez/32/40304_2.png) [@sparkjonez](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sparkjonez)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/timestamp-in-elasticsearch/169742/1 "2019-02-24T20:25:10Z")

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Hello,

My understanding is that the @timestamp field I see in Kibana is set when Logstash receives an event and forwards it to the Elasticsearch cluster. Is @timestamp change or modified under any other circumstances? For example, could the @timestamp be updated when there is a re-index operation or data is backed up and restored?

Thank you,

T.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [February 24, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/timestamp-in-elasticsearch/169742/2 "2019-02-24T20:32:27Z")

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It's not altered unless you specifically update it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sparkjonez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sparkjonez/32/40304_2.png) [@sparkjonez](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sparkjonez)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/timestamp-in-elasticsearch/169742/3 "2019-02-25T01:14:07Z")

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Hi Mark,

Could you expand on what would update the field? Do you mean that the @timestamp field would remain the same unless each event were accessed and the @timestamp updated?

I have a situation where there are a group of events with a @timestamp field that is very different from the timestamp recorded at the server in the event information. Usually there is a slight discrepancy, but in the situation I am looking at the discrepancy is quite large (over 12 hours).

Thank you,

Tom.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [February 25, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/timestamp-in-elasticsearch/169742/4 "2019-02-25T03:04:13Z")

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> [@sparkjonez](#):
>
> Do you mean that the @timestamp field would remain the same unless each event were accessed and the @timestamp updated?

Yep.

> [@sparkjonez](#):
>
> I have a situation where there are a group of events with a @timestamp field that is very different from the timestamp recorded at the server in the event information.

I guess that really depends on how the data gets to Elasticsearch.  
if you are using Logstash or the ingest API, then look at the date formatting functionality to normalise things.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sparkjonez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sparkjonez/32/40304_2.png) [@sparkjonez](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sparkjonez)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 4:41am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/timestamp-in-elasticsearch/169742/5 "2019-02-25T04:41:20Z")

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Thank you for your help.

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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:** [March 25, 2019, 4:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/timestamp-in-elasticsearch/169742/6 "2019-03-25T04:48:48Z")

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