diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index d9085c83..d3674871 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ http://visjs.org
 
 ### Timeline
 
+- Fixed auto detected item type being preferred over the global item `type`.
 - Throws an error when constructing without new keyword.
 
 ### Graph
diff --git a/src/timeline/component/ItemSet.js b/src/timeline/component/ItemSet.js
index 56dba106..92c45076 100644
--- a/src/timeline/component/ItemSet.js
+++ b/src/timeline/component/ItemSet.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ function ItemSet(body, options) {
   this.body = body;
 
   this.defaultOptions = {
-    type: 'box',
+    type: null,  // 'box', 'point', 'range', 'rangeoverflow'
     orientation: 'bottom',  // 'top' or 'bottom'
     align: 'center', // alignment of box items
     stack: true,
@@ -673,10 +673,7 @@ ItemSet.prototype._onUpdate = function(ids) {
   ids.forEach(function (id) {
     var itemData = me.itemsData.get(id, me.itemOptions),
         item = me.items[id],
-        type = itemData.type ||
-            (itemData.start && itemData.end && 'range') ||
-            me.options.type ||
-            'box';
+        type = itemData.type || me.options.type || (itemData.end ? 'range' : 'box');
 
     var constructor = ItemSet.types[type];