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Voice typing in Kibana

Dashboards built by one person are read, badly, by everyone else. Typally works at the keyboard level, so anywhere Kibana accepts typing, it accepts your voice instead.

This is a vendor guide from the makers of Typally. Anything we say about Kibana is worth verifying — third-party features change without notice.
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In short

  • Kibana's own dictation: None. Panel descriptions, saved search names and markdown panels are typed.
  • What Typally does instead: puts text wherever the cursor is, in Kibana or in anything else you have open.
  • Best used for: markdown panels explaining a dashboard

Does Kibana have built-in dictation?

None. Panel descriptions, saved search names and markdown panels are typed.

Why dictate in Kibana at all?

A Kibana dashboard encodes assumptions about what the data means. During an incident, someone who did not build it has to interpret it under pressure, and a mislabelled panel leads them somewhere expensive.

In practice people use it for: Markdown panels explaining a dashboard, panel descriptions, saved search documentation, and incident notes.

How to dictate in Kibana

Nothing changes inside Kibana itself. Typally sits in the tray and types into the focused window:

1

Download and sign in

Grab the build for your platform and create an account.

2

Focus the Kibana field you want the words in

The cursor position is the whole instruction — Kibana routes the keystrokes from there.

3

Talk while holding the key

The recording lasts exactly as long as you do.

4

Read it before you move on

Query syntax is structured. Dictate the explanations and type the queries.

What Typally adds in Kibana

Typally types into Kibana's markdown panels and description fields, so explaining a dashboard costs about as long as saying it. That explanation is what separates a dashboard that helps during an incident from one that misleads.

What this looks like in practice

A dashboard blamed twice for false escalations gets a spoken markdown panel explaining that the nightly spike is a scheduled reindex. The escalations stop immediately.

One habit that makes it work better

Add a markdown panel at the top stating what the dashboard shows and what normal looks like. Interpretation errors during incidents are more common than missing data.

What to watch out for in Kibana

Query syntax is structured. Dictate the explanations and type the queries.

Frequently asked questions

Does Kibana have dictation?

No. All text entry is typed.

Why add markdown panels?

Because the person reading a dashboard at 3am did not build it and has no idea what normal looks like.

Can I dictate KQL queries?

Not practically. They are symbol-dense.

Try it in Kibana

Start on the free plan (100 minutes a month, no card). Pro lifts the cap and adds meeting notes for $7.99/month.

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