Export Kibana data to CSV for Excel

Kibana can export search results and visualization data as CSV, which Excel can import. It does not turn a dashboard into a native .xlsx workbook. Choose the export that matches the data you need: Discover results, a Lens table, or a dashboard image report.

Export a Discover session

Set the time range, query, filters, and visible columns in Discover, then save the session. Depending on your Kibana version, use Export, or Share → Export, and choose CSV. Older releases label the action CSV Reports. Generate the report, then open the Reporting page to download it; global search can locate that page when navigation differs.

Your account needs access to both the source data and the reporting feature. Availability also depends on the deployment, license, and administrator settings. A missing export button is not, by itself, proof that CSV requires a paid upgrade.

Export a Lens table or dashboard

For a Lens visualization, use its CSV download action. This exports the visualization's data, which may already be aggregated or limited; it is not necessarily every underlying document. PDF and PNG dashboard reports serve a different purpose and have their own subscription and rendering requirements.

Plan for size and query limits

xpack.reporting.csv.maxSizeBytes is a file-size limit in bytes, not a row count. Its documented default in current Kibana is 250 MB; check your installed version and configuration. Query mode, row limits, timeouts, shard availability, and storage speed can restrict exports further. Raising the size limit alone does not guarantee a complete report.

For bulk extraction, use an Elasticsearch API and an official language client with an appropriate pagination strategy. Convert the returned records to CSV, or use SQL's CSV output where suitable. A Logstash CSV output pipeline is another option. Third-party export tools require their own compatibility and maintenance review.

Open and automate exports

In Excel, importing the file and selecting UTF-8 is safer than relying on automatic encoding detection. A UTF-8 BOM can help some Excel versions recognize the encoding. Preserve identifiers as text when leading zeros matter.

For scheduled work, check the reporting automation supported by your version and license, or run an authenticated API export on your own scheduler. Review Elastic's reporting options and limits and reporting settings.