elasticsearch/Kibana list field as “?”, although it is “text” in index, why?

Question

I am adding documents to an elastic search 6.1 index using the python elasticsearch module. The data is json and that works nicely.

Before adding the data, I generate an additional field 'indexing_results' that contains a list of topics.

I find that field in the index (looking via a Kibana interface) but the type is not "t" (text) but "?" and I can't find out what makes elastic search / Kibana assume this.

When asking Kibana what the type of the new field is in the interface it tells me it is text:

With the type being "?" it seems I can't use it in Kibana visualisations - it is simply not offered as a field from which to construct charts. etc.

How can Kibana / elasticsearch be convinced to consider the "indexing_results" field as "text"?

Answer 1

Try to refresh the index pattern. Management > Index Pattern, then there is a refresh button on the top right.