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Create visualizations

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Create visualizations

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[preview] This functionality is in technical preview and may be changed or removed in a future release. Elastic will work to fix any issues, but features in technical preview are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features.

Learn how to create some visualization panels to add to your dashboard. This tutorial uses the same web logs sample data from Create dashboards.

Open the visualization editor and get familiar with the data

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Once you have loaded the web logs sample data into your dashboard lets open the visualization editor, to ensure the correct fields appear.

  1. On the dashboard, click Create visualization.
  2. Make sure the Kibana Sample Data Logs data view appears.

To create the visualizations in this tutorial, you’ll use the following fields:

  • Records
  • timestamp
  • bytes
  • clientip
  • referer.keyword

To see the most frequent values in a field, hover over the field name, then click i.

Create your first visualization

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Pick a field you want to analyze, such as clientip. To analyze only the clientip field, use the Metric visualization to display the field as a number.

The only number function that you can use with clientip is Unique count, also referred to as cardinality, which approximates the number of unique values.

  1. Open the Visualization type dropdown, then select Metric.

  2. From the Available fields list, drag clientip to the workspace or layer pane.

    In the layer pane, Unique count of clientip appears because the editor automatically applies the Unique count function to the clientip field. Unique count is the only numeric function that works with IP addresses.

  3. In the layer pane, click Unique count of clientip.

    1. In the Name field, enter Unique visitors.
    2. Click Close.

  4. Click Save and return.

    [No Title] appears in the visualization panel header. Since the visualization has its own Unique visitors label, you do not need to add a panel title.

View a metric over time

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There are two shortcuts you can use to view metrics over time. When you drag a numeric field to the workspace, the visualization editor adds the default time field from the data view. When you use the Date histogram function, you can replace the time field by dragging the field to the workspace.

To visualize the bytes field over time:

  1. On the dashboard, click Create visualization.

  2. From the Available fields list, drag bytes to the workspace.

    The visualization editor creates a bar chart with the timestamp and Median of bytes fields.

  3. To zoom in on the data, click and drag your cursor across the bars.

To emphasize the change in Median of bytes over time, change the visualization type to Line with one of the following options:

  • In the Suggestions, click the line chart.
  • In the editor toolbar, open the Visualization type dropdown, then select Line.

To increase the minimum time interval:

  1. In the layer pane, click timestamp.

  2. Change the Minimum interval to 1d, then click Close.

    You can increase and decrease the minimum interval, but you are unable to decrease the interval below the configured Advanced Settings.

To save space on the dashboard, hide the axis labels.

  1. Open the Left axis menu, then select None from the Axis title dropdown.
  2. Open the Bottom axis menu, then select None from the Axis title dropdown.
  3. Click Save and return

Since you removed the axis labels, add a panel title:

  1. Open the panel menu, then select Panel settings.
  2. In the Title field, enter Median of bytes, then click Apply.

View the top values of a field

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Create a visualization that displays the most frequent values of request.keyword on your website, ranked by the unique visitors. To create the visualization, use Top values of request.keyword ranked by Unique count of clientip, instead of being ranked by Count of records.

The Top values function ranks the unique values of a field by another function. The values are the most frequent when ranked by a Count function, and the largest when ranked by the Sum function.

  1. On the dashboard, click Create visualization.

  2. From the Available fields list, drag clientip to the Vertical axis field in the layer pane.

    The visualization editor automatically applies the Unique count function. If you drag clientip to the workspace, the editor adds the field to the incorrect axis.

  3. Drag request.keyword to the workspace.

    When you drag a text or IP address field to the workspace, the editor adds the Top values function ranked by Count of records to show the most frequent values.

The chart labels are unable to display because the request.keyword field contains long text fields. You could use one of the Suggestions, but the suggestions also have issues with long text. The best way to display long text fields is with the Table visualization.

  1. Open the Visualization type dropdown, then select Table.

  2. In the layer pane, click Top 5 values of request.keyword.

    1. In the Number of values field, enter 10.
    2. In the Name field, enter Page URL.
    3. Click Close.

  3. Click Save and return.

    Since the table columns are labeled, you do not need to add a panel title.

Compare a subset of documents to all documents

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Create a proportional visualization that helps you determine if your users transfer more bytes from documents under 10KB versus documents over 10KB.

  1. On the dashboard, click Create visualization.
  2. From the Available fields list, drag bytes to the Vertical axis field in the layer pane.
  3. In the layer pane, click Median of bytes.
  4. Click the Sum quick function, then click Close.
  5. From the Available fields list, drag bytes to the Break down by field in the layer pane.

To select documents based on the number range of a field, use the Intervals function. When the ranges are non numeric, or the query requires multiple clauses, you could use the Filters function.

Specify the file size ranges:

  1. In the layer pane, click bytes.

  2. Click Create custom ranges, enter the following in the Ranges field, then press Return:

    • Ranges — 0 → 10240
    • Label — Below 10KB

  3. Click Add range, enter the following, then press Return:

    • Ranges — 10240 → +∞
    • Label — Above 10KB
  4. From the Value format dropdown, select Bytes (1024), then click Close.

To display the values as a percentage of the sum of all values, use the Pie chart.

  1. Open the Visualization Type dropdown, then select Pie.
  2. Click Save and return.

Add a panel title:

  1. Open the panel menu, then select Panel settings.
  2. In the Title field, enter Sum of bytes from large requests, then click Apply.

View the distribution of a number field

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The distribution of a number can help you find patterns. For example, you can analyze the website traffic per hour to find the best time for routine maintenance.

  1. On the dashboard, click Create visualization.
  2. From the Available fields list, drag bytes to Vertical axis field in the layer pane.

  3. In the layer pane, click Median of bytes.

    1. Click the Sum quick function.
    2. In the Name field, enter Transferred bytes.
    3. From the Value format dropdown, select Bytes (1024), then click Close.
  4. From the Available fields list, drag hour_of_day to Horizontal axis field in the layer pane.
  5. In the layer pane, click hour_of_day, then slide the Intervals granularity slider until the horizontal axis displays hourly intervals.
  6. Click Save and return.

Add a panel title:

  1. Open the panel menu, then select Panel settings.
  2. In the Title field, enter Website traffic, then click Apply.

Create a multi-level chart

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Table and Proportion visualizations support multiple functions. For example, to create visualizations that break down the data by website traffic sources and user geography, apply the Filters and Top values functions.

  1. On the dashboard, click Create visualization.
  2. Open the Visualization type dropdown, then select Treemap.
  3. From the Available fields list, drag Records to the Metric field in the layer pane.
  4. In the layer pane, click Add or drag-and-drop a field for Group by.

Create a filter for each website traffic source:

  1. Click Filters.

  2. Click All records, enter the following in the query bar, then press Return:

    • KQL — referer : **facebook.com**
    • Label — Facebook

  3. Click Add a filter, enter the following in the query bar, then press Return:

    • KQL — referer : **twitter.com**
    • Label — Twitter

  4. Click Add a filter, enter the following in the query bar, then press Return:

    • KQL — NOT referer : **twitter.com** OR NOT referer: **facebook.com**
    • Label — Other
  5. Click Close.

Add the user geography grouping:

  1. From the Available fields list, drag geo.srcdest to the workspace.
  2. To change the Group by order, drag Top 3 values of geo.srcdest in the layer pane so that appears first.

Remove the documents that do not match the filter criteria:

  1. In the layer pane, click Top 3 values of geo.srcdest.
  2. Click Advanced, deselect Group other values as "Other", then click Close.
  3. Click Save and return.

Add a panel title:

  1. Open the panel menu, then select Panel settings.
  2. In the Title field, enter Page views by location and referrer, then click Apply.

Visualization panels

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Visualization panels are how you display visualizations of your data and what make Kibana such a useful tool. Panels are designed to build interactive dashboards.

Create and add panels

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Create new panels, which can be accessed from the dashboard toolbar or the Visualize Library, or add panels that are saved in the Visualize Library, or search results from Discover.

Panels added to the Visualize Library are available to all dashboards.

To create panels from the dashboard:

  1. From the main menu, click Dashboard and select [Logs] Web Traffic.
  2. Click Edit then click Create visualization.
  3. From the Available fields drag and drop the data you want to visualize.
  4. Click Save and return.
  5. Click Save to add the new panel to your dashboard.

To create panels from the Visualize Library:

  1. From the main menu, click Visualize Library.
  2. Click Create visualization, then select an editor from the options.
  3. Click Save once you have created your new visualization.
  4. In the modal, enter a Title, Description, and decide if you want to save the new panel to an existing dashboard, a new dashboard, or to the Visualize Library.
  5. Save the panel.

To add existing panels from the Visualize Library:

  1. From the main menu, click Dashboard and select [Logs] Web Traffic.
  2. Click Edit then in the dashboard toolbar, click Add from library.
  3. Click the panel you want to add to the dashboard, then click X.

Save panels

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Consider where you want to save and add the panel in Kibana.

Save to the Visualize Library
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To use the panel on other dashboards, save the panel to the Visualize Library. When panels are saved in the Visualize Library, Visualize Library appears in the panel header.

If you created the panel from the dashboard:

  1. Open the panel menu and click More → Save to library.
  2. Enter the Title and click Save.

If you created the panel from the Visualize Library:

  1. In the editor, click Save.
  2. Under Save visualization enter a Title, Description, and decide if you want to save the new panel to an existing dashboard, a new dashboard, or to the Visualize Library.
  3. Click Save and go to Dashboard.
  4. Click Save.
Save to the dashboard
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Return to the dashboard and add the panel without specifying the save options or adding the panel to the Visualize Library.

If you created the panel from the dashboard:

  1. In the editor, click Save and return.
  2. Click Save.

If you created the panel from the Visualize Library:

  1. Click Save.
  2. Under Save visualization enter a Title, Description, and decide if you want to save the new panel to an existing dashboard, a new dashboard, or to the Visualize Library.
  3. Click Save and go to Dashboard.
  4. Click Save.

To add unsaved panels to the Visualize Library:

  1. Open the panel menu, then select More → Save to library.
  2. Enter the panel title, then click Save.

Arrange panels

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Compare the data in your panels side-by-side, organize panels by priority, resize the panels so they all appear on the dashboard without scrolling down, and more.

In the toolbar, click Edit, then use the following options:

  • To move, click and hold the panel header, then drag to the new location.
  • To resize, click the resize control, then drag to the new dimensions.
  • To maximize to fullscreen, open the panel menu, then click More → Maximize panel.

Add text panels

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Add Text panels to your dashboard that display important information, instructions, and more. You create Text panels using GitHub-flavored Markdown text.

  1. On the dashboard, click Edit.
  2. Click Add panel and select Create new text Text.
  3. Check the rendered text, then click Save and return.
  4. To save the new text panel to your dashboard click Save.

Add image panels

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To personalize your dashboards, add your own logos and graphics with the Image panel. You can upload images from your computer, or add images from an external link.

  1. On the dashboard, click Edit.
  2. Click Add panel and select Add image Image.
  3. Use the editor to add an image.
  4. Click Save.
  5. To save the new image panel to your dashboard click Save.

To manage your uploaded image files, open the main menu, then click Management → Files.

When you export a dashboard, the uploaded image files are not exported. When importing a dashboard with an image panel, and the image file is unavailable, the image panel displays a not found warning. Such panels have to be fixed manually by re-uploading the image using the panel’s image editor.

Edit panels

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To make changes to the panel, use the panel menu options.

  1. In the toolbar, click Edit.

  2. Open the panel menu, then use the following options:

    • Edit Lens — Opens Lens so you can make changes to the visualization.
    • Edit visualization — Opens the editor so you can make changes to the panel.

    • Edit map — Opens the editor so you can make changes to the map panel.

      The above options display in accordance to the type of visualization the panel is made up of.

    • Edit Lens — Opens aggregation-based visualizations in Lens.
    • Clone panel — Opens a copy of the panel on your dashboard.
    • Panel settings — Opens the Panel settings window to change the title, description, and time range.
    • More → Inspect — Opens an editor so you can view the data and the requests that collect that data.
    • More → Explore data in Discover — Opens that panels data in Discover.
    • More → Save to library — Saves the panel to the Visualize Library.
    • More → Maximize panel — Maximizes the panel to full screen.
    • More → Download as CSV — Downloads the data as a CSV file.
    • More → Replace panel — Opens the Visualize Library so you can select a new panel to replace the existing panel.
    • More → Copy to dashboard — Copy the panel to a different dashboard.
    • More → Delete from dashboard — Removes the panel from the dashboard.
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