diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/AbstractFieldsSnippet.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/AbstractFieldsSnippet.java
index d6e384cf..cf5ac124 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/AbstractFieldsSnippet.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/AbstractFieldsSnippet.java
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.operation.Operation;
+import org.springframework.restdocs.snippet.Attributes;
+import org.springframework.restdocs.snippet.Attributes.Attribute;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.snippet.ModelCreationException;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.snippet.SnippetException;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.snippet.TemplatedSnippet;
@@ -166,10 +168,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractFieldsSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 
 		validateFieldDocumentation(contentHandler);
 
+		List<FieldDescriptor> descriptorsToDocument = new ArrayList<>();
 		for (FieldDescriptor descriptor : this.fieldDescriptors) {
 			if (!descriptor.isIgnored()) {
 				try {
-					descriptor.type(contentHandler.determineFieldType(descriptor));
+					Object type = contentHandler.determineFieldType(descriptor);
+					descriptorsToDocument.add(copyWithType(descriptor, type));
 				}
 				catch (FieldDoesNotExistException ex) {
 					String message = "Cannot determine the type of the field '"
@@ -184,7 +188,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractFieldsSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 		Map<String, Object> model = new HashMap<>();
 		List<Map<String, Object>> fields = new ArrayList<>();
 		model.put("fields", fields);
-		for (FieldDescriptor descriptor : this.fieldDescriptors) {
+		for (FieldDescriptor descriptor : descriptorsToDocument) {
 			if (!descriptor.isIgnored()) {
 				fields.add(createModelForDescriptor(descriptor));
 			}
@@ -322,4 +326,28 @@ public abstract class AbstractFieldsSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 		return model;
 	}
 
+	private FieldDescriptor copyWithType(FieldDescriptor source, Object type) {
+		FieldDescriptor result = source instanceof SubsectionDescriptor
+				? new SubsectionDescriptor(source.getPath())
+				: new FieldDescriptor(source.getPath());
+		result.description(source.getDescription()).type(type)
+				.attributes(asArray(source.getAttributes()));
+		if (source.isIgnored()) {
+			result.ignored();
+		}
+		if (source.isOptional()) {
+			result.optional();
+		}
+		return result;
+	}
+
+	private static Attribute[] asArray(Map<String, Object> attributeMap) {
+		List<Attributes.Attribute> attributes = new ArrayList<>();
+		for (Map.Entry<String, Object> attribute : attributeMap.entrySet()) {
+			attributes
+					.add(Attributes.key(attribute.getKey()).value(attribute.getValue()));
+		}
+		return attributes.toArray(new Attribute[attributes.size()]);
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/RequestFieldsSnippetTests.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/RequestFieldsSnippetTests.java
index ffb4d4dc..43eece49 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/RequestFieldsSnippetTests.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/RequestFieldsSnippetTests.java
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ import org.springframework.restdocs.templates.TemplateResourceResolver;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.templates.mustache.MustacheTemplateEngine;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.containsString;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.nullValue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;
 import static org.mockito.BDDMockito.given;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.springframework.restdocs.payload.PayloadDocumentation.beneathPath;
@@ -446,6 +449,17 @@ public class RequestFieldsSnippetTests extends AbstractSnippetTests {
 										.build());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void typeDeterminationDoesNotSetTypeOnDescriptor() throws IOException {
+		this.snippets.expectRequestFields()
+				.withContents(tableWithHeader("Path", "Type", "Description").row("`a.b`",
+						"`Number`", "one"));
+		FieldDescriptor descriptor = fieldWithPath("a.b").description("one");
+		new RequestFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(descriptor)).document(this.operationBuilder
+				.request("http://localhost").content("{\"a\": {\"b\": 5}}").build());
+		assertThat(descriptor.getType(), is(nullValue()));
+	}
+
 	private String escapeIfNecessary(String input) {
 		if (this.templateFormat.equals(TemplateFormats.markdown())) {
 			return input;
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetTests.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetTests.java
index cd6fdb52..020131df 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetTests.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetTests.java
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ import org.springframework.restdocs.templates.TemplateResourceResolver;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.templates.mustache.MustacheTemplateEngine;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.containsString;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.nullValue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;
 import static org.mockito.BDDMockito.given;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.springframework.restdocs.payload.PayloadDocumentation.beneathPath;
@@ -457,6 +460,17 @@ public class ResponseFieldsSnippetTests extends AbstractSnippetTests {
 										.build());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void typeDeterminationDoesNotSetTypeOnDescriptor() throws IOException {
+		this.snippets.expectResponseFields()
+				.withContents(tableWithHeader("Path", "Type", "Description").row("`id`",
+						"`Number`", "one"));
+		FieldDescriptor descriptor = fieldWithPath("id").description("one");
+		new ResponseFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(descriptor)).document(
+				this.operationBuilder.response().content("{\"id\": 67}").build());
+		assertThat(descriptor.getType(), is(nullValue()));
+	}
+
 	private String escapeIfNecessary(String input) {
 		if (this.templateFormat.equals(TemplateFormats.markdown())) {
 			return input;