---
title: Save and manage Discover sessions
description: Save a Discover session to reuse its queries, filters, and view, then reopen, find, and duplicate it.
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/discover/save-open-search
products:
  - Elastic Documentation
  - Kibana
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Save and manage Discover sessions
When an exploration is worth coming back to, save it as a Discover session. The session keeps your queries, filters, columns, and view, so you can reopen the same exploration later or put it on a dashboard.
Kibana stores every saved session in the *library*, the place that the **Open session** list in **Discover** and the dashboards that use your sessions read from.

## Before you begin

The privileges you need depend on what you do on this page:
- **Save a session, or save it as a new session:** The **All** privilege for the **Discover** feature in Kibana. If you don't have it, **Discover** shows a **Read only** badge in the header and the **Save** button isn't visible.
- **Add the session to a dashboard when you save it:** The privileges to access and create dashboards, in addition to the **All** privilege for **Discover**. Without them, the **Add to dashboard** option isn't available.
- **Open a saved session:** Access to **Discover**.
- **Rename or delete saved sessions:** Edit or delete access to saved objects, which the Saved Objects feature grants. You reach this from the **Open Discover session** flyout, where you open sessions.

For more information, refer to [Granting access to Kibana](https://docs-demo.elastic.dev/docs/reference/elasticsearch/roles).
The following screenshot shows the **Read only** badge:
![Example of Discover's read only access indicator in the Kibana header](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/images/kibana-read-only-badge.png)


## Save a Discover session

When you save, all open [tabs](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/discover/work-with-tabs) are saved to the session.
1. When you've created a view worth saving, select **Save** in the application menu.
2. Enter a **Title** for the session.
3. Optional: Enter a **Description**, and add [**Tags**](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/tags).
4. Optional: If the session's data has a time field, turn on **Store time with Discover session** to save the current time filter and refresh interval with it.
5. <applies-to>Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available</applies-to> <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Generally available since 9.5</applies-to> Optional: When you save a new session, use **Add to dashboard** to also add the session as a panel on a dashboard. Select **New** to create a dashboard, **Existing** to select one, or **None** to skip. The session is saved to the library in all cases.
6. Select **Save**.

**Result:** The session is saved and appears in the **Open Discover session** flyout. To reload it later, refer to [Open a saved Discover session](#open-discover-session).
A Discover session stores the following elements for each of its tabs:
- The query mode (ES|QL or classic)
- The query text and filters
- The data view
- If you turned on **Store time with Discover session**, the selected time filter and refresh interval
- The current view of **Discover**, including the document table layout, the chart, and any ES|QL [variable controls](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/discover/esql-variable-controls)
- <applies-to>Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available</applies-to> <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Planned</applies-to> The **JSON** view of the document table, including how each tree is displayed. Refer to [View documents as JSON](/docs/explore-analyze/discover/document-explorer#document-explorer-view-mode).
- <applies-to>Elastic Cloud Serverless: Preview</applies-to> <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Planned</applies-to> The `bolt` **Fast mode** setting in ES|QL mode. Refer to [Use Fast mode](/docs/explore-analyze/query-filter/languages/esql-kibana#esql-kibana-fast-mode-toggle).

To work with the tabs of a session, refer to [Run multiple explorations with tabs in Discover](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/discover/work-with-tabs).

## Open a saved Discover session

To go back to a session you saved, or to find one that a teammate saved, open it from **Discover**.
1. In the application menu, select **Open session**. The **Open Discover session** flyout lists the saved sessions.
2. To find a session, enter part of its title in the search box, or filter the list by tag. When the search box is empty, you can also sort the list by selecting the **Title** column header.
3. Select the session.

**Result:** The session opens in **Discover**. If it uses a different data view than the one currently selected, **Discover** switches to it. The query mode that the session used is also selected automatically.
To rename, delete, or otherwise manage your saved sessions, select **Manage Discover sessions** in the flyout. The button opens the [Saved Objects](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/saved-objects) page, filtered to Discover sessions. It appears if your role lets you edit or delete saved objects.

## Rename a Discover session

<applies-to>
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Planned
</applies-to>

This does not apply to Kibana spaces that use the **Classic** solution view.
To rename a session:
1. In **Discover**, select the session title at the top of the page. The title becomes a text field.
2. Enter the new title.
3. Press <kbd>Enter</kbd> or select outside the field to confirm the new title. To keep the current title, press <kbd>Esc</kbd> instead.
4. If the session isn't saved yet, the **Save Discover session** dialog opens with your title in the **Title** field. Select **Save** to save the session.

A session that you've already saved takes the new title right away, and changes in your open tabs that you haven't saved stay unsaved. If you close the dialog without saving a new session, the title goes back to **New session**.

## Duplicate a Discover session

To start a new session from an existing one, save a copy under a new title. The steps depend on your version.
<applies-switch>
  <applies-item title="{ stack: ga 9.4+, serverless: ga }" applies-to="Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available, Elastic Stack: Generally available since 9.4">
    1. In **Discover**, open the Discover session that you want to duplicate.
    2. In the application menu, from the menu next to **Save**, select **Save as**. The **Save Discover session** dialog opens.
    3. Enter a **Title** for the new session, and optionally a **Description** and [**Tags**](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/tags).
    4. <applies-to>Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available</applies-to> <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Generally available since 9.5</applies-to> Optional: In **Add to dashboard**, decide whether to also add the session as a panel on a dashboard. Select **New** to create a dashboard, **Existing** to select one, or **None** to skip. The session is saved to the library in all cases.
    5. Select **Save**.
  </applies-item>

  <applies-item title="{ stack: ga 9.0-9.3 }" applies-to="Elastic Stack: Generally available from 9.0 to 9.3">
    1. In **Discover**, open the Discover session that you want to duplicate.
    2. In the application menu, select **Save**.
    3. Enter a new name for the session.
    4. Turn on **Save as new Discover session**.
    5. Select **Save**.
  </applies-item>
</applies-switch>

**Result:** A new Discover session is saved with the title you entered.

## Next steps

- [Use Discover sessions in dashboards](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/discover/use-sessions-in-dashboards): Add the session, its chart, or its table to a dashboard.
- [Export results and sessions from Discover](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/discover/export-discover-session): Take the results or the session definition elsewhere.


## Related pages

- [How Discover works](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/discover/discover-get-started)
- [How to query in Discover's ES|QL mode](https://www.elastic.co/docs/explore-analyze/discover/use-esql)