diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts b/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
index 32135eab90a..d818b2ef090 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ const DEFAULT_EXPLORE_STATE: ExploreUrlState = {
   datasource: null,
   queries: [],
   range: DEFAULT_RANGE,
+  ui: {
+    showingGraph: true,
+    showingTable: true,
+    showingLogs: true,
+  }
 };
 
 describe('state functions', () => {
@@ -69,9 +74,11 @@ describe('state functions', () => {
           to: 'now',
         },
       };
+
       expect(serializeStateToUrlParam(state)).toBe(
         '{"datasource":"foo","queries":[{"expr":"metric{test=\\"a/b\\"}"},' +
-          '{"expr":"super{foo=\\"x/z\\"}"}],"range":{"from":"now-5h","to":"now"}}'
+          '{"expr":"super{foo=\\"x/z\\"}"}],"range":{"from":"now-5h","to":"now"},' +
+          '"ui":{"showingGraph":true,"showingTable":true,"showingLogs":true}}'
       );
     });
 
diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts b/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
index 7a9f54a0cae..07c8cf1d24b 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
   ResultType,
   QueryIntervals,
   QueryOptions,
+  ExploreUrlUIState,
 } from 'app/types/explore';
 
 export const DEFAULT_RANGE = {
@@ -27,6 +28,12 @@ export const DEFAULT_RANGE = {
   to: 'now',
 };
 
+export const DEFAULT_UI_STATE = {
+  showingTable: true,
+  showingGraph: true,
+  showingLogs: true,
+};
+
 const MAX_HISTORY_ITEMS = 100;
 
 export const LAST_USED_DATASOURCE_KEY = 'grafana.explore.datasource';
@@ -151,6 +158,7 @@ export function parseUrlState(initial: string | undefined): ExploreUrlState {
   if (initial) {
     try {
       const parsed = JSON.parse(decodeURI(initial));
+      // debugger
       if (Array.isArray(parsed)) {
         if (parsed.length <= 3) {
           throw new Error('Error parsing compact URL state for Explore.');
@@ -161,19 +169,24 @@ export function parseUrlState(initial: string | undefined): ExploreUrlState {
         };
         const datasource = parsed[2];
         const queries = parsed.slice(3);
-        return { datasource, queries, range };
+        return { datasource, queries, range, ui: DEFAULT_UI_STATE };
       }
       return parsed;
     } catch (e) {
       console.error(e);
     }
   }
-  return { datasource: null, queries: [], range: DEFAULT_RANGE };
+  return { datasource: null, queries: [], range: DEFAULT_RANGE, ui: DEFAULT_UI_STATE };
 }
 
+const serializeUIState = (state: ExploreUrlUIState) => {
+  return Object.keys(state).map((key) => ({ [key]: state[key] }));
+};
+
 export function serializeStateToUrlParam(urlState: ExploreUrlState, compact?: boolean): string {
+
   if (compact) {
-    return JSON.stringify([urlState.range.from, urlState.range.to, urlState.datasource, ...urlState.queries]);
+    return JSON.stringify([urlState.range.from, urlState.range.to, urlState.datasource, ...urlState.queries, ...serializeUIState(urlState.ui)]);
   }
   return JSON.stringify(urlState);
 }
diff --git a/public/app/types/explore.ts b/public/app/types/explore.ts
index 34b7ff08c99..d035b60d86a 100644
--- a/public/app/types/explore.ts
+++ b/public/app/types/explore.ts
@@ -231,10 +231,17 @@ export interface ExploreItemState {
   tableResult?: TableModel;
 }
 
+export interface ExploreUrlUIState {
+  showingTable: boolean;
+  showingGraph: boolean;
+  showingLogs: boolean;
+}
+
 export interface ExploreUrlState {
   datasource: string;
   queries: any[]; // Should be a DataQuery, but we're going to strip refIds, so typing makes less sense
   range: RawTimeRange;
+  ui: ExploreUrlUIState;
 }
 
 export interface HistoryItem<TQuery extends DataQuery = DataQuery> {