# Whether to use multiple index in a dashboard or one index

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/whether-to-use-multiple-index-in-a-dashboard-or-one-index/165350>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [January 23, 2019, 7:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/whether-to-use-multiple-index-in-a-dashboard-or-one-index/165350 "2019-01-23T07:34:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![suhasgupta1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@suhasgupta1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/suhasgupta1)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 7:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/whether-to-use-multiple-index-in-a-dashboard-or-one-index/165350/1 "2019-01-23T07:34:17Z")

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Hi All,

I am beginner to kibana, using it for a month now. I have one doubt related to index created in ES for plotting data. The question is if I have 3 dataframes, I want columns from each dataframe in dashboard. I can join 3 using primary key foreign key relationship. Whether I should join all 3 and write one index to ES and use it in kibana Or I have to maintain 3 Index.

Dashboard requirement is I want to show unique columns in dashboard if I join I may get duplicates but when I show average it will be correct but If I have to show columns only (I am using search object as of now) I am getting repeated rows.

Thanks & Regards  
Suhas Gupta

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**Author:** ![tsullivan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tsullivan/32/31077_2.png) [@tsullivan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tsullivan)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/whether-to-use-multiple-index-in-a-dashboard-or-one-index/165350/2 "2019-01-24T21:53:20Z")

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Well, Elasticsearch doesn't do joins or have a concept of foreign keys. All the fields you need for a single visualization need to be in a single index pattern. Does that help?

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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:** [February 21, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/whether-to-use-multiple-index-in-a-dashboard-or-one-index/165350/3 "2019-02-21T21:53:29Z")

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