# Advanced settings via config file possible?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/advanced-settings-via-config-file-possible/68862>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [December 13, 2016, 12:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/advanced-settings-via-config-file-possible/68862 "2016-12-13T12:10:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ShinyMcShine](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shinymcshine/32/13678_2.png) [@ShinyMcShine](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ShinyMcShine)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 12:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/advanced-settings-via-config-file-possible/68862/1 "2016-12-13T12:10:34Z")

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Hello there!

Is it possible to set the advanced settings (e.g. doc\_table:highlight or state:storeinSessionStorage) via config file?  
I'm doing a lot of testing right now, which also involves an occasional fresh installation and therefore it would be very neat to be able to set my favorite advanced settings when Kibana starts up. Otherwise I do stuff and then realize, that I forgot to change some settings. 🙂

Thanks in advance and best regards!

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**Author:** ![shaunak](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shaunak/32/6643_2.png) [@shaunak](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/shaunak)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/advanced-settings-via-config-file-possible/68862/2 "2016-12-13T15:10:39Z")

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Setting these via the config file is not possible. These settings actually get stored in Elasticsearch itself, in a special index (default is `.kibana`). So what you could do, while you are testing, is something like this:

1. Set all the advanced settings as you want via the Kibana UI
2. Grab the JSON document from Elasticsearch where these settings are stored. For this make an HTTP `GET` request to `http://localhost:9200/.kibana/config/_search` (assuming you have Elasticsearch running on localhost:9200; replace if necessary). This should return a document (under `hits`) corresponding to your version of Kibana, something that looks like this:

> ```
> {
> "_index": ".kibana",
> "_type": "config",
> "_id": "5.1.1",
> "_score": 1.0,
> "_source": {
> "buildNum": 14566,
> "defaultIndex": "logstash-*",
> "discover:aggs:terms:size": 20,
> "discover:sampleSize": "1500"
> }
> }
> 
> ```

1. Grab the `_source` part of the document and save it somewhere.
2. Next time you install Kibana fresh, start up the Kibana server (so this special index in Elasticsearch is initialized properly). Then index your saved document back into Elasticsearch by sending an HTTP `PUT` request to `http://localhost:9200/.kibana/config/<your kibana version, e.g. 5.1.1>` with the body as the saved document. Note that if you are installing a different version of Kibana from the one you saved the settings from, this may not work.

Hope this helps!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShinyMcShine](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shinymcshine/32/13678_2.png) [@ShinyMcShine](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ShinyMcShine)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 7:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/advanced-settings-via-config-file-possible/68862/3 "2016-12-14T07:37:38Z")

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Thanks! I'll try that out next time!

Best regards!

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/advanced-settings-via-config-file-possible/68862/4 "2017-01-11T07:37:40Z")

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