diff --git a/dev-tools/cmd/dashboards/export_dashboards.go b/dev-tools/cmd/dashboards/export_dashboards.go
index 4dfe8709f183..7d8121fc77d3 100644
--- a/dev-tools/cmd/dashboards/export_dashboards.go
+++ b/dev-tools/cmd/dashboards/export_dashboards.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/common"
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/kibana"
 )
 
 var exportAPI = "/api/kibana/dashboards/export"
@@ -29,39 +30,6 @@ func makeURL(url, path string, params url.Values) string {
 	return strings.Join([]string{url, path, "?", params.Encode()}, "")
 }
 
-func ExtractIndexPattern(body []byte) ([]byte, error) {
-	var contents common.MapStr
-
-	err := json.Unmarshal(body, &contents)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	objects, ok := contents["objects"].([]interface{})
-	if !ok {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Key objects not found or wrong type")
-	}
-
-	var result []interface{}
-	for _, obj := range objects {
-		_type, ok := obj.(map[string]interface{})["type"].(string)
-		if !ok {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("type key not found or not string")
-		}
-		if _type != "index-pattern" || indexPattern {
-			result = append(result, obj)
-		}
-	}
-	contents["objects"] = result
-
-	newBody, err := json.MarshalIndent(contents, "", "  ")
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Error mashaling: %v", err)
-	}
-
-	return newBody, nil
-}
-
 func Export(client *http.Client, conn string, dashboard string, out string) error {
 	params := url.Values{}
 
@@ -90,19 +58,42 @@ func Export(client *http.Client, conn string, dashboard string, out string) erro
 		return fmt.Errorf("HTTP GET %s fails with %s, %s", fullURL, resp.Status, body)
 	}
 
-	body, err = ExtractIndexPattern(body)
+	data, err := kibana.RemoveIndexPattern(body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("fail to extract the index pattern: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	err = ioutil.WriteFile(out, body, 0666)
+	objects := data["objects"].([]interface{})
+	for _, obj := range objects {
+		o := obj.(common.MapStr)
+
+		decodeValue(o, "attributes.uiStateJSON")
+		decodeValue(o, "attributes.visState")
+		decodeValue(o, "attributes.optionsJSON")
+		decodeValue(o, "attributes.panelsJSON")
+		decodeValue(o, "attributes.kibanaSavedObjectMeta.searchSourceJSON")
+	}
 
+	data["objects"] = objects
+	err = ioutil.WriteFile(out, []byte(data.StringToPrint()), 0666)
 	if !quiet {
 		fmt.Printf("The dashboard %s was exported under the %s file\n", dashboard, out)
 	}
 	return err
 }
 
+func decodeValue(data common.MapStr, key string) {
+	v, err := data.GetValue(key)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	s := v.(string)
+	var d common.MapStr
+	json.Unmarshal([]byte(s), &d)
+
+	data.Put(key, d)
+}
+
 func ReadManifest(file string) ([]map[string]string, error) {
 	cfg, err := common.LoadFile(file)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/libbeat/kibana/dashboard.go b/libbeat/kibana/dashboard.go
index bb996b362d22..47ba251a72ab 100644
--- a/libbeat/kibana/dashboard.go
+++ b/libbeat/kibana/dashboard.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ func RemoveIndexPattern(data []byte) (common.MapStr, error) {
 	var kbResult struct {
 		// Has to be defined as interface instead of Type directly as it has to be assigned again
 		// and otherwise would not contain the full content.
-		Objects []interface{}
+		Objects []common.MapStr
 	}
 
 	var result common.MapStr
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@ func RemoveIndexPattern(data []byte) (common.MapStr, error) {
 	var objs []interface{}
 
 	for _, obj := range kbResult.Objects {
-		t, ok := obj.(map[string]interface{})["type"].(string)
-		if !ok {
+		v, err := obj.GetValue("type")
+		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("type key not found or not string")
 		}
-		if t != "index-pattern" {
+		if v != "index-pattern" {
 			objs = append(objs, obj)
 		}
 	}