diff --git a/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts b/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
index f9c5034..a3099fa 100644
--- a/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
+++ b/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
  */
 export const commitinfo = {
   name: '@apiclient.xyz/elasticsearch',
-  version: '2.0.4',
+  version: '2.0.5',
   description: 'log to elasticsearch in a kibana compatible format'
 }
diff --git a/ts/els.classes.elasticdoc.ts b/ts/els.classes.elasticdoc.ts
index ffa2fd1..2ad7ca0 100644
--- a/ts/els.classes.elasticdoc.ts
+++ b/ts/els.classes.elasticdoc.ts
@@ -73,15 +73,14 @@ export class ElasticDoc {
     this.onlyNew = options.onlyNew;
   
     if (this.onlyNew) {
-      // Check if index exists before attempting to search for the latest timestamp
-      const { body: indexExists } = await this.client.indices.exists({ index: this.index });
-      
-      if (indexExists) {
+      try {
         const response = await this.client.search({
           index: this.index,
           sort: '@timestamp:desc',
           size: 1,
         });
+  
+        // If the search query succeeded, the index exists.
         const hit = response.body.hits.hits[0];
         this.latestTimestamp = hit?._source?.['@timestamp'] || null;
   
@@ -90,13 +89,20 @@ export class ElasticDoc {
         } else {
           console.log(`Working in "onlyNew" mode, but no documents found in index ${this.index}. Hence processing all documents now.`);
         }
-      } else {
+      } catch (e) {
+        // If the search query failed, the index likely doesn't exist or some other error occurred.
+        if (e.meta && e.meta.statusCode === 404) {
+          console.log(`Index ${this.index} does not exist. Working in "onlyNew" mode, but will process all documents as the index is empty.`);
+        } else {
+          console.log(`An error occurred while trying to retrieve the latest timestamp: ${e}`);
+        }
+  
         this.latestTimestamp = null;
-        console.log(`Index ${this.index} does not exist. Working in "onlyNew" mode, but will process all documents as the index is empty.`);
       }
     }
   }
   
+  
 
   async pipeDocument(optionsArg: { docId: string; timestamp?: string | number; doc: any }) {
     await this.ensureIndexExists(optionsArg.doc);