Reuse panels from the Visualize library

A panel is a chart, map, or other block of content on a dashboard. The Visualize library is where you save panels so that several dashboards can reuse them. Use it to share one panel across dashboards, to build a visualization before you tie it to a dashboard, and to give one dashboard its own copy of a shared panel. To find the library, refer to Open the library.

The privileges you need depend on the task:

• To open the library, you need the Read privilege for the Visualize library feature in Kibana. To create visualizations in the library, you need the All privilege.
• To add a library panel to a dashboard or unlink one, you need the All privilege for the Dashboard feature.
• To save a dashboard panel to the library, you need the All privilege for the Dashboard feature, plus the All privilege for the feature behind the panel type. Lens, Vega, and legacy visualizations belong to Visualize library, maps belong to Maps, and Discover sessions belong to Discover. Links panels and Markdown panels need no privilege beyond Dashboard.

A panel is either a library panel or a dashboard panel. The difference is where Kibana stores it.

• Library panels are saved in the library. Every dashboard that uses a library panel shows the same panel, so an edit you save appears on all of them. Use a library panel when the same chart belongs on several dashboards, for example an error-rate chart that appears on both a team dashboard and an executive dashboard.

  You might also see this called a by-reference panel, because every dashboard points to the one copy in the library.

• Dashboard panels are saved only with the dashboard where you created them. An edit changes that dashboard and nothing else. Use a dashboard panel for a chart that only one dashboard needs. If you remove a dashboard panel, it is deleted.

  You might also see this called a by-value panel, because the dashboard holds the full definition of the panel.

You can change a panel from one kind to the other. Save a dashboard panel to the library to share it, or unlink a library panel to give a dashboard its own copy.

Unless the remarks say otherwise, saved panels of the following types appear both in the Visualizations tab and in the list that opens when you add a panel from the library to a dashboard.

The library doesn't support other panel types. These panels are saved only with the dashboard they belong to.

In the library, you can create visualizations and manage annotation groups, which are saved sets of chart annotations.

To browse your saved visualizations or build a new one, open the library. Where you open it depends on your deployment and version.

The navigation you see depends on the solution view of your space: Classic, Search, Observability, or Security. To check the solution view of a space, refer to Manage spaces. In Elastic Cloud Serverless, every project uses a solution view.

• On the Dashboards page, select the Visualizations tab.
• Open the library from one of these places:
  • In a solution view, on the Dashboards page, select the Visualizations tab.
  • In the Classic view, on the Dashboards page, select the Visualizations tab, or select Visualize library in the navigation menu.
• Select Visualize library in the navigation menu, or search for it in the global search field.

The library opens on the list of your saved visualizations.

To build a visualization before you add it to any dashboard, create it from the library.

1. Open the library.

2. Select Create visualization.

3. Select the type of visualization to build. For the steps to build each type, refer to its page:

   • Lens
   • Maps
   • Vega
   • Aggregation-based and TSVB: Legacy visualizations that you find on the Legacy tab of the dialog.

After you save the visualization, it appears in the library and you can add it to any dashboard.

You can't create links panels, Markdown panels, or Discover sessions from the library.

Annotation groups mark events such as deployments on your charts. You can reuse the same group on more than one Lens visualization. Annotation groups aren't dashboard panels. To manage them, select the Annotation groups tab. To create a group and add it to a chart, refer to Add annotations. When you save a change to a group, every visualization that uses the group shows it.

To use a library panel on another dashboard, add it from the library. The new panel stays linked to the library copy.

1. Open the dashboard and select Edit.

2. Open the library picker:

   • Select Add → From library.
   • Select Add from library.

3. Select the panel to add.

4. Save the dashboard.

The panel appears on the dashboard and shows the library copy.

To reuse a dashboard panel on other dashboards, save it to the library.

1. Open the dashboard and select Edit.
2. Hover over the panel, then select the panel menu.
3. Select Save to library.
4. Enter a title, then select Save.
5. Save the dashboard.

The panel on this dashboard is now a library panel. When you save a later edit, every dashboard that uses the panel shows that edit.

To change a library panel on one dashboard only, unlink it from the library on that dashboard.

1. Open the dashboard and select Edit.
2. Hover over the panel, then select the panel menu.
3. Select Unlink from library.
4. Save the dashboard.

The panel is now a dashboard panel. Edits you make from now on apply to this dashboard only. The library copy and the other dashboards stay as they are.

• Create a dashboard from the Kibana UI
• Save and reuse Markdown panels across dashboards
• Add a Discover session from the library
• Add a links panel from the library