Error log”Unable to find saved object” – The Missing Dashboard

Error Log: This error appears in the OpenSearch Dashboards UI when you click a link to a dashboard, visualization, or index pattern that no longer exists.

Saved object not found

Error: Unable to find saved object

Could not locate that saved object (id: a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-g1h2-i3j4k5l6m7n8)

You may also see a 404 error in your browser’s developer console or in the Dashboards server logs when it tries to load the object.

Why… is this happening? This is a simple “Not Found” error, but for Dashboards objects. All your dashboards, visualizations, index patterns, and saved queries are stored as documents in an internal OpenSearch index, typically named .opensearch_dashboards.

This error means that Dashboards looked for a document with the specified ID in that index and found nothing.

Common reasons include:

1. It Was Deleted: Someone (or an API script) manually deleted the dashboard or visualization.
2. Corrupted Index: The .opensearch_dashboards index itself is unhealthy (e.g., red or yellow status), so OpenSearch can’t read from it.
3. Multi-Tenancy Issue: You are in a different Dashboards tenant (e.g., a “Private” or “Custom” tenant) than the one where the object was created. Objects are isolated by tenant.
4. Bad URL: You are using a stale bookmark or URL that points to an object ID that has been deleted and re-created (it would get a new ID).
5. Failed Migration: After an OpenSearch version upgrade, the migration of the saved objects in the .opensearch_dashboards index may have failed.

Best Practice:

1. Check Your Tenant: First, check the “Tenant” menu in the top-right of Dashboards. Are you in the correct one? Try switching to “Global” or “Private” to see if your object appears.
2. Check Index Health: Go to Dev Tools and run GET /_cluster/health/.opensearch_dashboards?v. Ensure the status is green. If it’s red or yellow, you must fix that index’s unassigned shards first.
3. Restore from Snapshot: If the object was accidentally deleted, your only option is to restore it from a recent snapshot of the .opensearch_dashboards index.
4. Check Dashboards Server Logs: The opensearch_dashboards.log file may contain more details during startup or at the time of the error, especially if it’s a migration failure.

What else can I do? Lost a critical dashboard and don’t have a snapshot? This is a tough spot, but the community might have advanced recovery scripts. For help with snapshot/restore or tenancy, reach out on the forums or contact us in The OpenSearch Slack Channel in #General.