[[dynamic-mapping]] == Dynamic Mapping One of the most important features of Elasticsearch is that it tries to get out of your way and let you start exploring your data as quickly as possible. To index a document, you don't have to first create an index, define a mapping type, and define your fields -- you can just index a document and the index, type, and fields will spring to life automatically: [source,js] -------------------------------------------------- PUT data/counters/1 <1> { "count": 5 } -------------------------------------------------- // CONSOLE <1> Creates the `data` index, the `counters` mapping type, and a field called `count` with datatype `long`. The automatic detection and addition of new types and fields is called _dynamic mapping_. The dynamic mapping rules can be customised to suit your purposes with: <>:: Configure the base mapping to be used for new mapping types. <>:: The rules governing dynamic field detection. <>:: Custom rules to configure the mapping for dynamically added fields. TIP: <> allow you to configure the default mappings, settings and aliases for new indices, whether created automatically or explicitly. [float] === Disabling automatic type creation Automatic type creation can be disabled by setting the `index.mapper.dynamic` setting to `false`, either by setting the default value in the `config/elasticsearch.yml` file, or per-index as an index setting: [source,js] -------------------------------------------------- PUT data/_settings <1> { "index.mapper.dynamic":false } -------------------------------------------------- // CONSOLE // TEST[continued] <1> Disable automatic type creation for all indices. Regardless of the value of this setting, types can still be added explicitly when <> or with the <> API. include::dynamic/default-mapping.asciidoc[] include::dynamic/field-mapping.asciidoc[] include::dynamic/templates.asciidoc[]