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I am trying to set up some filters in Fiddler and I do not know how to reset them, if I made a mistake.

An example of a session:

Unfiltered status:

enter image description here

Applying a wrong filter (which will not match anything):

enter image description here

I end up with an empty session list (which is OK).

Rolling back

NowI would like to get back to a no-filter state. I tried to:

  • disable the filtering by unchecking "Use Filters"
  • refreshing (F5) after doing the above
  • using filters but going back to -No Host Filter- and applying in the Actions

enter image description here

enter image description here

None of these (and various combinations thereof) worked. How can I apply a no-filter status (short of restarting Fiddler)?

WoJ
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    It's not clear what you're asking here; unticking "Use Filters" disables all filters on that tab. Perhaps you are confused by the fact that requests that have been filtered out will never appear again unless they are requested again? – EricLaw Oct 07 '14 at 22:13
  • @EricLaw: well, now I am confused: do you mean that once a filter is applied to an event, this event is *deleted* from the capture (saved or live)? What I am trying to do is to see the previously-filtered events (discarding the filters). It would be strange if the action of applying a filter was irreversible on the captured requests. – WoJ Oct 08 '14 at 07:49
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    also "unticking "Use Filters" disables all filters on that tab" does not work for me: unticking "Use Filters" still leaves me with an empty set of events. I will update the question with a screenshot to make it clear. – WoJ Oct 08 '14 at 07:50

1 Answers1

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From the comments, we've confirmed that your confusion arises from the fact that Sessions which have been deleted by filters cannot be recovered. The point of filters, beyond helping to limit what you see, is that they reduce Fiddler's memory usage since unwanted data need not be stored.

Obviously, if you've previously saved the traffic in a SAZ file, you can simply reload that file.

EricLaw
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    Thank you for clarification. Your profile says you work on Fiddler. Suggested enhancement: please add a "Clear Filters" action that is at least usable when viewing .saz files. Progressive filters are handy, sure, but clear/reset option seems like common sense. – nothingisnecessary Oct 09 '14 at 22:53
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    I am the developer of Fiddler, yes. If you're saying you want to be able to unhide hidden sessions, that's still not a feasible feature for memory-related reasons. If you wish to highlight specific sessions, do that rather than hiding unwanted ones. – EricLaw Oct 10 '14 at 14:12
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    The text in the menu says 'hide', not 'delete'. This is at best misleading, and at worse, just wrong. – Shannon Mann Jul 11 '16 at 15:12
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    @EricLaw: I agree with ShannonMann. Hiding something doesn't imply it's also deleted. Otherwise, the childs game "hide and seek" would show terrible results. I am confused on how filters work in Fiddler, too. If the sessions are already in memory, there's no gain in deleting them. Perhaps providing two different filter types (a pre-capturing filter, not logging unmatched sessions at all, and a post-capturing filter, just (truely) hiding existing sessions) would be a feasible solution to this issue. – AxD May 13 '18 at 10:55
  • 1. I haven't worked on Fiddler in years, although it's worth mentioning that Fiddler worked like this for fifteen years now, so I doubt changing this is a priority for anyone. 2. The sessions *aren't* in memory anymore, which is the point here. – EricLaw May 14 '18 at 13:12