Technical preview

Learn the most common way to create a dashboard from your own data. The tutorial will use sample data from the perspective of an analyst looking at website logs, but this type of dashboard works on any type of data.

Open the dashboard

Begin with an empty dashboard, or open an existing dashboard.

1. Open the main menu, then click Dashboard.

2. On the Dashboards page, choose one of the following options:

• To start with an empty dashboard, click Create dashboard.

  When you create a dashboard, you are automatically in edit mode and can make changes.

• To open an existing dashboard, click the dashboard Title you want to open.

  When you open an existing dashboard, you are in view mode. To make changes, click Edit in the toolbar.

Add data and create a dashboard

Add the sample web logs data, and create and set up the dashboard.

1. On the Dashboard page, click Add some sample data.

2. Click Other sample data sets.

3. On the Sample web logs card, click Add data.

Create the dashboard where you'll display the visualization panels.

1. Open the main menu, then click Dashboard.

2. Click [Logs] Web Traffic.

By default some visualization panels have been created for you using the sample data. Go to Create visualization to learn about the different visualizations.

— Click to open this image in fullscreen mode

Reset the dashboard

To remove any changes you've made, reset the dashboard to the last saved changes.

1. In the toolbar, click Reset.

2. Click Reset dashboard.

Save dashboards

When you've finished making changes to the dashboard, save it.

1. In the toolbar, click Save.

2. To exit Edit mode, click Switch to view mode.

Add dashboard settings

When creating a new dashboard you can add the title, tags, design options, and more to the dashboard.

1. In the toolbar, click Settings.

2. On the Dashboard settings flyout, enter the Title and an optional Description.

3. Add any applicable Tags.

4. Specify the following settings:

• Store time with dashboard — Saves the specified time filter.

• Use margins between panels — Adds a margin of space between each panel.

• Show panel titles — Displays the titles in the panel headers.

• Sync color palettes across panels — Applies the same color palette to all panels on the dashboard.

• Sync cursor across panels — When you hover your cursor over a panel, the cursor on all other related dashboard charts automatically appears.

• Sync tooltips across panels — When you hover your cursor over a panel, the tooltips on all other related dashboard charts automatically appears.

5. Click Apply.

Share dashboards

To share the dashboard with a larger audience, click Share in the toolbar. For detailed information about the sharing options, refer to Reporting.

Export dashboards

To automate Kibana, you can export dashboards as JSON using the Export objects API. It is important to export dashboards with all necessary references.