---
title: Machine learning in Kibana
description: Explore your data with the Data Visualizer, and detect distribution changes over time with Data drift, directly in Kibana.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7604/explore-analyze/machine-learning/machine-learning-in-kibana
products:
- Kibana
applies_to:
- Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
- Elastic Stack: Generally available
---
# Machine learning in Kibana
As data sets increase in size and complexity, the human effort required to inspect dashboards or maintain rules for spotting infrastructure problems, cyber attacks, or business issues becomes impractical. Elastic machine learning features such as anomaly detection and outlier detection make it easier to notice suspicious activities with minimal human interference.
Kibana includes a free **Data Visualizer** that helps you understand your data's structure, distribution, and quality before you act on it. If your data is stored in Elasticsearch and contains a time field, the **Data Visualizer** also helps you identify possible fields for anomaly detection.
Click **Zoom in** or **Zoom out** next to the date picker to quickly narrow or widen the time range when exploring your data.
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:
- PDF
- Microsoft Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- Plain text (TXT)
- Rich text (RTF)
- Open Document Format (ODF)
The **Data Visualizer** identifies the file format and field mappings, and you can import the data into an Elasticsearch index. To change the default file size limit, refer to [`fileUpload:maxFileSize`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/kibana/tree/main/reference/advanced-settings#kibana-general-settings) in **Advanced Settings**.
If Elastic Stack security features are enabled, users must have the necessary privileges to use machine learning features. Refer to [Set up machine learning features](/elastic/docs-content/pull/7604/explore-analyze/machine-learning/setting-up-machine-learning#setup-privileges).
There are limitations in machine learning features that affect Kibana. For more information, refer to [Machine learning](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7604/explore-analyze/machine-learning/anomaly-detection/ml-limitations).
## Data drift
- Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
- Elastic Stack: Generally available since 9.4
- Elastic Stack: Preview from 9.0 to 9.3
You can find the **Data drift** view in **Machine Learning** → **Data Visualizer** in Kibana or by using the [global search field](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7604/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects). The **Data drift** view shows you the differences in each field for two different time ranges in a given data view. The view helps you to visualize the changes in your data over time and enables you to understand its behavior better.
You select a data view to analyze, along with separate time ranges for the reference and comparison data in the histogram chart, adjusting each range by moving its brush. **Run analysis** then compares the reference and comparison periods.
You can decide whether you want to view all the fields in the data view or only the ones that contain drifted data. The analysis results table displays the fields, their types, if drift is detected, the p-value that indicates how significant the detected change is, the reference and comparison distribution, and the comparison chart. To expand the results for a particular field, select its row's arrow icon.