how to prevent updating of "updatedAt" field while saving or updating documents in mongodb?

Question

I am in a situation where i want to update documents of collection in mongodb but i don't want "updatedAt" field to be updated. I want to retain the previous value of updated field. Please help.

if no need to update `updatedAt` filed on update then why need `updatedAt` field ? — Shaishab Roy, Jan 20 '17 at 09:44
Mongo does not update the value of any user defined field on its own. If you don't want to update a field simply don't update it. — Jyotman Singh, Jan 20 '17 at 09:47
I replied in this question [Skip timestamps middleware for certain updates in Mongoose](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38621790/skip-timestamps-middleware-for-certain-updates-in-mongoose/45707811#45707811). Hope this help! — Trung Le Nguyen Nhat, Aug 16 '17 at 07:45

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 27 '17 at 12:36

If you are using Waterline or other database abstractions, my advice is to run the query natively in mongo.

This is how I would fix this in Sails.js (running Waterline):

let someQuery = {name: 'John Doe'}; 

MyModel.native(function (err, collection){
  collection.update(
    {query: someQuery},                   // Which documents to update?
    {$set:{field1: "value", foo:"bar"}},  // Our new values
    {multi: true},                        // To support update of multiple fields
    function(err, result){
      if (err) console.log(err)
      else console.log(result.result)
    })
});

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 26 '18 at 13:34

1

updatedAt field is updated when you use update query of mongoose. if we directly use $set query it will only update the mentioned fields inside $ set query. The reason is updatedAt field is managed by mongoose not by mongodb.

edited Aug 26 '18 at 13:34

anj

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answered Aug 22 '18 at 04:59

Vikash_Singh

1,856
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The $set alone is not sufficient on mongodb version 4.2.3. { timestamps: false } should be used with the $set. https://stackoverflow.com/a/64634344/6003002 – blokberg Sep 13 '22 at 15:50

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 23 '21 at 10:44

If you are using mongoose, then relatively new feature (2020) gives you the option to override setting timestamps (or just one) on transactions.

Refer to docs

Example from docs shown below

const userSchema = mongoose.Schema({
  email: String
}, { timestamps: true });

const User = mongoose.model('User', userSchema);

const doc = await User.findOneAndUpdate({email: 'test@google.com'}, {email:'newtest@google.com'}, 
{new:true, upsert: true, timestamps:false});

how to prevent updating of "updatedAt" field while saving or updating documents in mongodb?

3 Answers3