Index patterns and fields

The Index patterns UI helps you create and manage the index patterns that retrieve your data from Elasticsearch.

management index patterns

Create an index pattern

An index pattern is the glue that connects Kibana to your Elasticsearch data. Create an index pattern whenever you load your own data into Kibana. To get started, click Create index pattern, and then follow the guided steps. Refer to Creating an index pattern for the types of index patterns that you can create.

Manage your index pattern

To view the fields and associated data types in an index pattern, click its name in the Index patterns overview.

Index files and data types

Use the icons to perform the following actions:

  • Set the default index pattern. Kibana uses a badge to make users aware of which index pattern is the default. The first pattern you create is automatically designated as the default pattern. The default index pattern is loaded when you open Discover.
  • Refresh the index fields list. You can refresh the index fields list to pick up any newly-added fields. Doing so also resets the Kibana popularity counters for the fields. The popularity counters are used in Discover to sort fields in lists.

  • Delete the index pattern. This action removes the pattern from the list of Saved Objects in Kibana. You will not be able to recover field formatters, scripted fields, source filters, and field popularity data associated with the index pattern. Deleting an index pattern does not remove any indices or data documents from Elasticsearch.

    Deleting an index pattern breaks all visualizations, saved searches, and other saved objects that reference the pattern.

Edit a field

To edit a field’s properties, click the edit icon edit icon in the detail view. You can set the field’s format and popularity value.

Kibana has field formatters for the following field types:

Most Popular