Upload data files
Elastic Stack Serverless
You can upload files, view their fields and metrics, and optionally import them to Elasticsearch with the Data Visualizer.
To use the Data Visualizer, click Upload a file on the Elasticsearch Getting Started page or navigate to the Integrations view and search for Upload a file. Clicking Upload a file opens the Data Visualizer UI.

Drag a file into the upload area or click Select or drag and drop a file to choose a file from your computer.
You can upload different file formats for analysis with the Data Visualizer:
File formats supported up to 500 MB:
- CSV
- TSV
- NDJSON
- Log files
File formats supported up to 60 MB:
- Microsoft Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- Plain Text (TXT)
- Rich Text (RTF)
- Open Document Format (ODF)
The Data Visualizer displays the first 1000 rows of the file. You can inspect the data and make any necessary changes before importing it. Click Import continue the process.
This process will create an index and import the data into Elasticsearch. Once your data is in Elasticsearch, you can start exploring it, see Explore and analyze for more information.
The upload feature is not intended for use as part of a repeated production process, but rather for the initial exploration of your data.
The Elastic Stack security features provide roles and privileges that control which users can upload files. To upload a file in Kibana and import it into an Elasticsearch index, you’ll need:
manage_pipeline
ormanage_ingest_pipelines
cluster privilegecreate
,create_index
,manage
, andread
index privileges for the indexall
Kibana privileges for Discover and Data Views Management
You can manage your roles, privileges, and spaces in Stack Management.