# Log viewing Elastic stack

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [March 8, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598 "2021-03-08T19:43:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Akhil2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Akhil2](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Akhil2)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598/1 "2021-03-08T19:43:57Z")

</div>

Hello there,

I would like to explore the possibility of log viewing through Elastic stack.

I understand that I can use filebeat in order to do that but I already have logs that I would like to view in kibana dashboard but they are in .txt format. I believe that we need excel format for log files right?

Please let me know. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,  
Akhil

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aaron-nimocks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aaron-nimocks/32/73965_2.png) [@aaron-nimocks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/aaron-nimocks)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598/2 "2021-03-08T19:46:31Z")

</div>

If you ingest your logs with filebeat then they are in Kibana and can be viewed. It doesn't have to be in excel.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Akhil2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Akhil2](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Akhil2)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598/3 "2021-03-08T19:49:57Z")

</div>

Hey aaron-nimocks,

thanks for helping me through this.

quick question, what if I already have a lot of logs for the system and I just need filebeat to pick logs from a specific location. is that possible?

thanks,  
Akhil

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aaron-nimocks](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/aaron-nimocks/32/73965_2.png) [@aaron-nimocks](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/aaron-nimocks)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 8:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598/4 "2021-03-08T20:01:53Z")

</div>

There is an [ignore older option](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-input-log.html#filebeat-input-log-ignore-older), yes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Akhil2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Akhil2](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Akhil2)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598/5 "2021-03-08T20:03:17Z")

</div>

Okay. let me look into it. Thanks Aaron.

Appreciate your help!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Akhil2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Akhil2](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Akhil2)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598/6 "2021-03-15T19:53:07Z")

</div>

Hello, I have one more question, I understand the process of setting up logs location in filebeat.yml file and then create index in kibana and then view logs from dashboard.

what if I have more than one location from where l need to pick logs and then create index to view them. how i am supposed to do that?

please let me know!

Thanks,  
Akhil

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-viewing-elastic-stack/266598/7 "2021-04-12T19:53:11Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.