docs: document Save table to dashboard button in Discover (#5880)#6037
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Document the new "Save table to dashboard" toolbar button that saves the current Discover documents table directly as a by-value panel on a new or existing dashboard (stack 9.4, serverless). Also reflects the histogram button rename from "Save visualization" to "Save visualization to dashboard". Made-with: Cursor
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Vale Linting ResultsSummary: 2 warnings found
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| File | Line | Rule | Message |
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| explore-analyze/discover/save-open-search.md | 167 | Elastic.Spelling | 'unlinking' is a possible misspelling. |
| explore-analyze/discover/save-open-search.md | 173 | Elastic.MenuArrowsBold | Use '→' to separate menu items, not '' or '='. Example: Select Manage index → Add lifecycle policy. |
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The "Add search results to a dashboard" H2 in save-open-search.md now hosts four subsections that go beyond just adding (Choose which tab to display and Save edits as a new Discover session are panel-management operations). Rename to "Use Discover sessions in dashboards" and broaden the intro paragraph. Keep the existing anchor ID so cross-links from manage-panels.md still resolve. Made-with: Cursor
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Filed #6210 for the broader Discover ↔ Dashboard IA review. The structural concerns surfaced while working on this PR (4 mixed subsections under the renamed H2, missing step-by-step for the dashboard-side ad-hoc creation flow, no single overview) are tracked there rather than in this PR. |
…ement types Reorganize the section to distinguish the three kinds of Discover content that can become dashboard panels (visualization of a tab, documents table of a tab, full session) and group the routes for each. The full-session subsection now documents four add routes (library, ad hoc from dashboard, save with Add to dashboard, save panel edits as new) plus the post-add tab selector. Also corrects the version tag for the Save modal Add to dashboard option: the unified pipeline (DiscoverSessionSaveModalContainer) shipped in elastic/kibana#260092 labeled v9.5.0, not 9.4. Adds a stable anchor on the controls-into-dashboard heading in try-esql.md so the new visualization-route subsection can link to it. Made-with: Cursor
Co-authored-by: Florent LB <florent.leborgne@elastic.co>
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Hey @davismcphee @Bluefinger, I was working on this PR to try to make a bit of sense of the various workflows that now exist for bringing Discover sessions or elements of them to dashboards. It's a mix of 9.4 and 9.5 and more ancient ways but I think that I have gotten the tagging right there. I put in the 9.5 stuff already since from my understanding it's in serverless already or going to be next week. (it'll still show "planned" for stack until then. I haven't added screenshots yet but may add some later if needed. It may be easier to review from this page preview rather than from the file changes to get a sense of the structure. Happy to make any adjustments - but know that I have a task for an upcoming sprint to review the entire structure of the Discover docs to give it a good refresh and adopt best practices in terms of page scoping and structure. |
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Discover changes LGTM overall, thanks! Left a couple of minor corrections, but otherwise my only real feedback is I'm not sure the create-from-dashboard flow fits the "full session" concept. Not blocking though and still an improvement overall, but worth considering in the follow up.
On a separate note, I find the "depending on your version" branches a bit hard to follow, but that's not Discover specific, just the docs structure in general.
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Great work. Instructions and applies to labels all make sense. Left some non-blocking suggestions for section names, possible additional links, and similar small stuff. Hope they are helpful!
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Co-authored-by: Florent LB <florent.leborgne@elastic.co> Co-authored-by: Benjamin Ironside Goldstein <91905639+benironside@users.noreply.github.com>
Resolve unresolved review threads on the PR by dropping the "full/entire session" framing. Both the table button and the 9.5 save-to-dashboard flow store the panel directly with the dashboard, so the meaningful distinction was always lifecycle, not "full vs partial". The new structure consolidates all table-producing flows under a single "Add Discover tables to dashboards" section, grouped by where the user starts (Discover or a dashboard). Each H4 keeps its existing anchor for back-compat. Also drops "just" per style review. Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
Drop the section-level 9.5 tag from the H4 and use an applies-switch inside instead. The library save flow has always existed, only the Add to dashboard picker is 9.5+. Pre-9.5 readers now get a clear fallback that points to the library save + import flow. Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
Add a "From Discover" lead-in to the two table subsections that didn't make their starting point clear, so readers landing on those sections directly understand the entry point. Replace "modal" with "dialog" across the page for clearer language. Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
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Add a "From a dashboard" lead-in and pull the precondition about the session needing to be in the library out of the numbered steps, so the actual on-dashboard flow starts at step 1. Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
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| When you save the session, the **Add to dashboard** option of the dialog determines what happens to it: | ||
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| #### Add a saved session from the dashboard library [add-discover-session-from-library] | ||
| - **New** or **Existing**: The session is saved as a panel on a dashboard. The panel's configuration is stored with the dashboard, and the session isn't saved to the library. If the session has multiple tabs, you can [choose which tab the panel displays](#discover-session-choose-tab) on the dashboard. |
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Overall the new structure works well, but this isn't quite right. Using "New" or "Existing" when saving a session still saves it to the library, it just also adds it to a dashboard.
The options basically break down into these:
- When clicking "Save" (or "Save as") in Discover's app menu, it saves a multi-tab session to the library, and the user can optionally also add it to a dashboard.
- When saving the Discover table directly or using the "Add" flow from a dashboard, it creates a single-tab session that is only saved to the dashboard and not the library.
- When saving the Discover vis, it's also only saved to the dashboard and not the library.
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@davismcphee ok I see what I did wrong when testing this:
- the saved discover session won't appear in the Visualize library page
- it will only appear when selecting "from library" when adding a panel to a dashboard
I genuinely thought the library would allow us to find discover sessions as well
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…6317) ## Summary Follow-up to #6037 addressing [@davismcphee's review comment](#6037 (comment)) on the merged PR. Per Davis's correction: - **Save / Save as from Discover's app menu** (multi-tab session) always saves the session to the library. The **Add to dashboard** option (9.5+) optionally also adds it as a panel on a dashboard — it doesn't replace the library save. - **Save table to dashboard** button (9.4+) and **Save visualization to dashboard** save only to the dashboard (single-tab, not in library). - **Add panel > Discover session** from a dashboard creates a single-tab session stored only with the dashboard. The previous wording in #6037 framed the **Add to dashboard** options (`None`, `New`, `Existing`) as a mutually exclusive choice between dashboard and library. This is incorrect: the library save always happens for the Save flow; only the dashboard placement is controlled by **Add to dashboard**. ## Changes In `explore-analyze/discover/save-open-search.md`: - Main "Save a Discover session" step 3 — reframe **Add to dashboard** as "also add to a dashboard"; clarify library save always happens. - "Duplicate a Discover session" Save as step 4 — same reframe. - H3 list bullet and H4 title: "Save a Discover session to a dashboard or to the library" → "Save a Discover session and add it to a dashboard". - 9.5 branch of the applies-switch under that H4 — rewrite the bullets so they correctly describe what each option does on top of the always-happens library save. - "Save panel edits as a new Discover session" step 5 — same reframe. In `explore-analyze/discover/discover-get-started.md`: - "Save your Discover session" step 4 — drop the "choose where to save" framing. In `explore-analyze/kibana-data-exploration-learning-tutorial.md`: - "From Discover to a dashboard" — fix a separate conflation that described saving "the entire Discover session…directly to a dashboard from the Discover table toolbar". The table toolbar saves the table view only; the full session goes to the library and from there to a dashboard. ## Test plan - [ ] Preview the changed pages and confirm the **Add to dashboard** bullets read consistently across the three locations in `save-open-search.md` (main Save, Duplicate, Save panel edits) and the cross-link in `discover-get-started.md`. - [ ] Verify no remaining wording on the page implies the session is only saved to the library when **None** is selected. - [ ] Confirm anchors/links still resolve. Made with [Cursor](https://cursor.com) --------- Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
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Summary
Addresses #5880 (new Save table to dashboard button in Discover, 9.4), #5999 (Save Discover sessions directly to a dashboard, 9.5), and documents several related Discover-to-Dashboard workflow changes introduced in 9.4 and 9.5.
Changes
explore-analyze/discover/save-open-search.md— main file, significant rework:applies-switch— 9.4+/serverless uses the new Save as split-button; 9.0–9.3 uses the older save-with-toggle flow.explore-analyze/discover/discover-get-started.md: extends the "Save your Discover session" steps to include the new Add to dashboard modal option (9.5/serverless), closing #5999.explore-analyze/_snippets/import-discover-query-controls-into-dashboard.md: updates the histogram save button label and icon to reflect the 9.4 rename (Save visualization to dashboard,app_dashboard), keeping the old label for earlier versions.explore-analyze/kibana-data-exploration-learning-tutorial.md: same button rename update in two places; expands a navigation-paths note to mention saving from the table toolbar.explore-analyze/discover/try-esql.md: adds an explicit stable anchor to the "Import a Discover query along with its controls" heading, enabling reliable cross-links fromsave-open-search.md.Resolves
Closes #5880
Closes #5999
Screenshots
explore-analyze/discover/save-open-search.md: a screenshot of the Discover documents table toolbar showing the new Save table to dashboard button (9.4+) would significantly help users identify where to click for the core new feature. -> FLB: Noexplore-analyze/_snippets/import-discover-query-controls-into-dashboard.md—save-discover-viz-to-dashboard.png: the histogram button was renamed to Save visualization to dashboard and its icon changed, so this screenshot is likely outdated. -> FLB OKMade with Cursor