diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/app_plugin/app.test.tsx b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/app_plugin/app.test.tsx
index 08f046925cb46..60b8e1c000434 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/app_plugin/app.test.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/app_plugin/app.test.tsx
@@ -779,6 +779,40 @@ describe('Lens App', () => {
       });
       expect(getButton(instance).disableButton).toEqual(false);
     });
+
+    it('should show a warning tooltip if the datatable contains any char likely to be interpreted as a spreadsheet formula', async () => {
+      const services = makeDefaultServicesForApp();
+      services.application = {
+        ...services.application,
+        capabilities: {
+          ...services.application.capabilities,
+          visualize: { save: false, saveQuery: false, show: true },
+        },
+      };
+
+      const { instance } = await mountWith({
+        services,
+        preloadedState: {
+          isSaveable: true,
+          activeData: {
+            layer1: {
+              type: 'datatable',
+              // mind the indexpattern mock will return no columns to be visible
+              // we use this test to indirectly test the visible columns feature:
+              // the @myField name should trigger the warning tooltip check, but because
+              // of the mock no warning is shown
+              columns: [{ id: 'a', name: '@myField', meta: { type: 'number' } }],
+              rows: [],
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      });
+      const tooltipFn = getButton(instance).tooltip;
+      expect(tooltipFn).toEqual(expect.any(Function));
+      if (typeof tooltipFn === 'function') {
+        expect(tooltipFn()).toEqual(undefined);
+      }
+    });
   });
 
   describe('inspector', () => {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/app_plugin/lens_top_nav.tsx b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/app_plugin/lens_top_nav.tsx
index 9045080f83b26..49b5c3342ce8e 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/app_plugin/lens_top_nav.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/app_plugin/lens_top_nav.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import { isEqual } from 'lodash';
 import { i18n } from '@kbn/i18n';
 import React, { useCallback, useEffect, useMemo, useState } from 'react';
+import { Datatable } from 'src/plugins/expressions';
 import { TopNavMenuData } from '../../../../../src/plugins/navigation/public';
 import {
   LensAppServices,
@@ -238,6 +239,35 @@ export const LensTopNavMenu = ({
   const unsavedTitle = i18n.translate('xpack.lens.app.unsavedFilename', {
     defaultMessage: 'unsaved',
   });
+
+  // Compute the list of visible columns, per layer/datatable, once
+  const tableVisibleColumnsPerLayer = useMemo(() => {
+    if (
+      !activeData ||
+      activeDatasourceId == null ||
+      datasourceStates[activeDatasourceId]?.state == null
+    ) {
+      return {};
+    }
+    const datatableColumns: Record<string, Datatable['columns']> = {};
+    const layerIds = Object.keys(activeData);
+    for (const layerId of layerIds) {
+      const visibleColumns = new Set(
+        datasourceMap[activeDatasourceId]
+          .getPublicAPI({
+            state: datasourceStates[activeDatasourceId].state,
+            layerId,
+          })
+          .getTableSpec()
+          .map(({ columnId }) => columnId)
+      );
+
+      datatableColumns[layerId] = activeData[layerId].columns.filter(({ id }) =>
+        visibleColumns.has(id)
+      );
+    }
+    return datatableColumns;
+  }, [activeData, activeDatasourceId, datasourceMap, datasourceStates]);
   const topNavConfig = useMemo(
     () =>
       getLensTopNavConfig({
@@ -255,9 +285,10 @@ export const LensTopNavMenu = ({
         tooltips: {
           showExportWarning: () => {
             if (activeData) {
-              const datatables = Object.values(activeData);
-              const formulaDetected = datatables.some((datatable) => {
-                return tableHasFormulas(datatable.columns, datatable.rows);
+              const layerIds = Object.keys(activeData);
+              const formulaDetected = layerIds.some((layerId) => {
+                const datatable = activeData[layerId];
+                return tableHasFormulas(tableVisibleColumnsPerLayer[layerId], datatable.rows);
               });
               if (formulaDetected) {
                 return i18n.translate('xpack.lens.app.downloadButtonFormulasWarning', {
@@ -275,15 +306,22 @@ export const LensTopNavMenu = ({
             if (!activeData) {
               return;
             }
-            const datatables = Object.values(activeData);
-            const content = datatables.reduce<Record<string, { content: string; type: string }>>(
-              (memo, datatable, i) => {
+            const layerIds = Object.keys(activeData);
+
+            const content = layerIds.reduce<Record<string, { content: string; type: string }>>(
+              (memo, layerId, i) => {
+                const datatable = activeData[layerId];
                 // skip empty datatables
                 if (datatable) {
-                  const postFix = datatables.length > 1 ? `-${i + 1}` : '';
+                  const postFix = layerIds.length > 1 ? `-${i + 1}` : '';
+
+                  const filteredDatatable = {
+                    ...datatable,
+                    columns: tableVisibleColumnsPerLayer[layerId],
+                  };
 
                   memo[`${title || unsavedTitle}${postFix}.csv`] = {
-                    content: exporters.datatableToCSV(datatable, {
+                    content: exporters.datatableToCSV(filteredDatatable, {
                       csvSeparator: uiSettings.get('csv:separator', ','),
                       quoteValues: uiSettings.get('csv:quoteValues', true),
                       formatFactory: fieldFormats.deserialize,
@@ -341,6 +379,7 @@ export const LensTopNavMenu = ({
       initialInput,
       isLinkedToOriginatingApp,
       isSaveable,
+      lensInspector,
       title,
       onAppLeave,
       redirectToOrigin,
@@ -348,9 +387,9 @@ export const LensTopNavMenu = ({
       savingToDashboardPermitted,
       savingToLibraryPermitted,
       setIsSaveModalVisible,
+      tableVisibleColumnsPerLayer,
       uiSettings,
       unsavedTitle,
-      lensInspector,
     ]
   );
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/indexpattern.tsx b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/indexpattern.tsx
index 49a85f3f3af79..1fc931399c0e9 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/indexpattern.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/indexpattern.tsx
@@ -430,18 +430,19 @@ export function getIndexPatternDatasource({
 
     getPublicAPI({ state, layerId }: PublicAPIProps<IndexPatternPrivateState>) {
       const columnLabelMap = indexPatternDatasource.uniqueLabels(state);
+      const layer = state ? state.layers[layerId] : undefined;
 
       return {
         datasourceId: 'indexpattern',
 
         getTableSpec: () => {
-          return state.layers[layerId].columnOrder
-            .filter((colId) => !isReferenced(state.layers[layerId], colId))
-            .map((colId) => ({ columnId: colId }));
+          return layer
+            ? layer.columnOrder
+                .filter((colId) => !isReferenced(layer, colId))
+                .map((colId) => ({ columnId: colId }))
+            : [];
         },
         getOperationForColumnId: (columnId: string) => {
-          const layer = state.layers[layerId];
-
           if (layer && layer.columns[columnId]) {
             if (!isReferenced(layer, columnId)) {
               return columnToOperation(layer.columns[columnId], columnLabelMap[columnId]);
@@ -450,8 +451,7 @@ export function getIndexPatternDatasource({
           return null;
         },
         getVisualDefaults: () => {
-          const layer = state.layers[layerId];
-          return getVisualDefaultsForLayer(layer);
+          return layer && getVisualDefaultsForLayer(layer);
         },
       };
     },
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/types.ts b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/types.ts
index eb82bb67c0829..6842d3465e032 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/types.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/types.ts
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ export interface DatasourcePublicAPI {
   /**
    * Collect all default visual values given the current state
    */
-  getVisualDefaults: () => Record<string, Record<string, unknown>>;
+  getVisualDefaults: () => Record<string, Record<string, unknown>> | undefined;
 }
 
 export interface DatasourceDataPanelProps<T = unknown> {