# Kibana Export and Import not working

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-export-and-import-not-working/268204>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [March 24, 2021, 11:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-export-and-import-not-working/268204 "2021-03-24T11:49:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Automation\_Scripts](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/automation_scripts/32/85374_2.png) [@Automation\_Scripts](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Automation_Scripts)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 11:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-export-and-import-not-working/268204/1 "2021-03-24T11:49:53Z")

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Hi guys,

Exported some Kibana dashboards and vizualizations from one computer to another and I got the same error while importing the ndjson ==\>

````auto
 Sorry, there was an error

The file could not be processed due to error: "Bad Request: Unexpected token [ in JSON at position 63"```

I am manually exporting them from one computer to another. How can I import all the dashboards from one comp to another?

Thank you!
````

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**Author:** ![flash1293](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/flash1293/32/41227_2.png) [@flash1293](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/flash1293)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 1:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-export-and-import-not-working/268204/2 "2021-03-24T13:22:13Z")

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It looks like your export file is corrupted. Can you provide the following information:

- What do you mean by "computer"? Dashboards are saved in the Elasticsearch cluster connected to Kibana. If you want to transfer them from one cluster to another, then you need the export/import api. If you are connecting to the same cluster, this won't be necessary
- What are the versions of Kibana you are using? Keep in mind you can't import an ndjson file exported from a more recent version of Kibana into an older Kibana version (the other way around will work fine)
- Can you share the steps you perform to export, copy the ndjson file and import it again? Maybe some step in between is changing the contents somehow
- Can you share the exported file itself?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Automation\_Scripts](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/automation_scripts/32/85374_2.png) [@Automation\_Scripts](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Automation_Scripts)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-export-and-import-not-working/268204/3 "2021-03-24T18:43:30Z")

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- What do you mean by "computer"? Dashboards are saved in the Elasticsearch cluster connected to Kibana. If you want to transfer them from one cluster to another, then you need the export/import api. If you are connecting to the same cluster, this won't be necessary

Answer: I have colleague A that is working on her own running ELK stack. She exported her dashboards from her own ELK stack via Kibana Import/Export, selected some dashboards and the ndjson generated by the tool was sent via email to colleague B that imported the json within his own ELK stack. No cluster involved, just separate ELks with only 1 node each.

- What are the versions of Kibana you are using? Keep in mind you can't import an ndjson file exported from a more recent version of Kibana into an older Kibana version (the other way around will work fine)

Answer: 7.11.2 both

- Can you share the steps you perform to export, copy the ndjson file and import it again? Maybe some step in between is changing the contents somehow  
Answer: see nr 1

- Can you share the exported file itself? ==\> Sorry I can't. But the export is from the tool via Kibana interface. No human interaction

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flash1293](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/flash1293/32/41227_2.png) [@flash1293](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/flash1293)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-export-and-import-not-working/268204/4 "2021-03-24T21:10:23Z")

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I see, thanks for clearing that up. Unfortunately without the problematic file it's hard to give guidance here. You can also mask sensitive data.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flash1293](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/flash1293/32/41227_2.png) [@flash1293](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/flash1293)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2021, 8:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-export-and-import-not-working/268204/6 "2021-03-25T08:10:16Z")

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I can't think of any settings that could cause this problem - it looks like the file itself is corrupted but I don't know how this could happen if it's just exported and imported via UI.

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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:** [April 22, 2021, 8:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-export-and-import-not-working/268204/7 "2021-04-22T08:11:05Z")

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