How To Import and Export Custom Views in Event Viewer

Have you created custom views in Event Viewer? Learn how to quickly import and export any custom view in Event Viewer in simple steps.

Event Viewer is one of the simplest yet most powerful tools in Windows. It records everything happening in the background and serves as a central location to view all system and application logs. These logs include general information (info), warnings, alerts, and system & application crashes. When you want to check a specific log, you can filter the events by Event IDs. For example, to find the chkdsk events, filter by event ID 1001. If you do this often, you can create custom views so you don’t have to manually enter event IDs each time to filter events.

Once you create a custom view, you can export it for backup or import it into another system. In fact, the ability to import and export custom views in Event Viewer is one of the most helpful things in the troubleshooting process. In this quick and easy guide, I will show you how to export any custom view in Event Viewer and, just as easily, import any custom view. Let’s get started.

Before You Start

• The steps shown below have been tested on Windows 11 and Windows 10.

Export a Custom View in Event Viewer

1. Right-click the Windows icon on the taskbar.
2. Select the “Event Viewer” option.
3. Expand “Custom Views” on the left panel.
4. Right-click the custom view you want to export.
5. Select the “Export Custom View” option.
6. Choose a folder to save the file.
7. Type a name in the “File Name” field.
8. Click “Save“.
9. With that, you’ve backed up or exported the custom view in Event Viewer.

Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)

First, we must open the Event Viewer. To do that, right-click the Windows icon on the taskbar and select the “Event Viewer” option. You can also search for the same in the Start menu. Once it opens, expand the “Custom Views” section in the left sidebar, right-click the view you want to export, and select “Export Custom View”.

As soon as you select the above option, Windows displays the Save As window. Here, select a folder to save the export file, enter a name of your choice in the “File name” field, and click “Save“.

That is it. With that, you’ve successfully exported a custom view in Event Viewer. You can verify it by opening File Explorer and navigating to the folder where you saved the file. You will see a new XML file with your chosen name.

Import a Custom View in Event Viewer

When you want to import a custom view, you can do it directly from the Event Viewer. Here’s how:

1. Right-click the Windows icon on the taskbar.
2. Select the “Event Viewer” option.
3. Select “Custom View” on the left panel.
4. Select “Import Custom View” on the right sidebar.
5. Navigate to the saved folder.
6. Select the XML file and click “Open“.
7. Click “OK“.
8. With that, the custom view is imported into Event Viewer.

Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)

Like with exporting, we must open the Event Viewer. To do that, right-click the Windows icon on the taskbar and select the “Event Viewer” option. Once it opens, select “Custom Views” in the left sidebar, then click the “Import Custom View” option in the right panel.

The above action opens the Browse window. Navigate to the folder where you saved the custom view XML file, select it, and click “Open“.

As soon as you do that, you will see the import dialog. Here, you can optionally set a new name for the imported view in the “Name” field. Next, select “Custom Views” under the “Select where to save the Custom view” section, and click “OK“.

That is it. With that, the custom view is immediately imported. You can start using it right away.

It is that simple to import/export or backup and restore a custom view in Event Viewer. If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to help.