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Step-by-step instructions, trouble-shooting and nitty-gritty product details

Table of contents

The Manual: help with using Filter

Filtering tab

Layout tab

Sites tab

Settings tab

License tab

Help tab

Miscellaneous: odds and ends

Installing & updating: how to install, uninstall, and update the Filter extension

Chrome: browser specific notes

Firefox: browser specific notes

Opera: browser specific notes

Safari: browser specific notes

 

The Manual

To get to the options you can use any of the following methods:

 

Show advanced settings...

We try and keep things as simple as possible. If you want to tweak the rest of these settings, you should definitely click the Show advanced settings... button.

This button appears at the bottom of the Filtering tab.

 

Hide advanced settings...

Selecting this button will return you to the simplified options interface.

This button appears at the bottom of the Filtering tab.

 

The Filtering Tab

Contains filtering stuff.

 

Kind of filtering

Hide mode hides cards based on keywords that you do not ever want to see.

Find mode only shows you cards based on keywords want to see.

 

What to hide

A list of filters used to filter/hide by keyword. We do not do a whole lot of checking on these, so be careful with your regex patterns.

These filters will find parts of words. If you do not like this, try changing the case sensitivity, or add a space to the end of your filters.

Entering a new filter when not showing advanced settings will create the filter initially as case-sensitive.

Entering a new filter while in advanced settings mode will give you the option to make the filter type case-sensitive, case-insensitive, or a regex pattern.

If you change the filter type while showing advanced settings, that filter type will become the new default.

Entering a filter on the options page will require a refresh of the Feedly and/or The Old Reader page. Entering a new filter from the Filter popup page action menu should be enabled immediately.

Note: Filter does not mark filtered items as read. Nor will it. We do not want to have anything to do with your personal data. If an item needs to be marked as read, please use the reader of choice to do it natively.

 

What not to hide

A list of exception filters that trumps the previous filter list. If something is found in the What to hide filter list, and something is found in the What not to hide filters list, it will not be filtered.

These filters will find parts of words. If you do not like this, try changing the case sensitivity.

Enter one keyword or phrase per line.

 

What to find

When in Hide mode, this is a list of text that you would like highlighted. A card that contains something in this list will not be hidden.

When in Find mode, this is a list of text that you only want to read about. A card that does not have a word in this list will/can be hidden by the What to hide option.

These filters will find parts of words. If you do not like this, try changing the case sensitivity.

Enter one keyword or phrase per line.

 

Which feeds to never filter

A list of feeds that are exempt from all filtering.

You can enter the exact name of the feed in the list, or select the Show list of feeds... link to convert the text list to a checkbox list of feeds. This list of feeds is scraped from the feeds list in Feedly and/or The Old Reader.

To synchronize the lists with Feedly you will need to select the Organize link from the sidebar.

To synchronize the lists with The Old Reader you do not need to do anything. Because The Old reader is cool.

 

Where to look

You can filter based on items found only in the title, or by items in the title and the body of the card.

 

How to filter

You can choose Squash with click to show or Completely hide.

Squash with click to show will compress the news item and add a small expansion bar to each filtered item. Click the bar once to show what was hidden, click it again to hide it again.

Completely hide does exactly that - you will not see it on your screen. And you will not be seeing the next and previous buttons if you select this.

Note: Filter does not mark filtered items as read. Nor will it. We do not want to have anything to do with your personal data. If an item needs to be marked as read, please use the reader of choice to do it natively.

 

Include on-screen duplicates

This option only matches on-screen titles or titles in the very immediate future or very recent past. If the titles are EXACTLY the same, and “on-screen” together, any copies are hidden using the How to filter settings (Squash with click to show or Completely hide).

 

The Layout Tab

A whole long list of pretty much everything on the page. You can select Hide the entire bottom of each card and Hide the entire row of navigation buttons to save those oh-so-valuable mouse-clicks. If you hide the navigation buttons, you can use the handy click-to-show bar. Or not. It is entirely up to you.

The Simplify and enhance option cleans up the interface and ads fancy animations.

The Page font option changes the page font. No, we will not add comic-sans.

 

Click-to-show colour

A list of color combinations based on cans from one of our favorite breweries.

 

Show popup page action menu

Someone, somewhere, is going to cry and ask for the ability to hide the painfully handy filter logo popup-menu, so we went out of our way to not get that email. Safari gets no such option (you can remove it entirely but customizing the toolbar).

 

Enable for all available sites

One-click-shopping. Why you would not want to apply these settings to the one available site is a mystery. And an option.

 

Change URL to use https (SSL)

Security is always better. You should use this. Assuming the reader has security.

 

The Popup Page Action menu

When available, you can use this menu to add filters on the fly, or toggle all filtered material on or off, or hide the header, or hide the list of feeds. And it also takes you to the options.

In Google Chrome and Opera, the filter on logo popup-menu is located in the URL bar. If you see this: filter off logo it means that you turned the filtering off.

In Apple Safari, the filter logo options-menu is located in the Tool bar. It is disabled when not on a valid site. You can remove it entirely by customizing the toolbar (see below).

 

The Settings tab

To see these options you must select the Show advanced settings... link or tap the ` key in options.

The Click to show or edit current active settings field contains all of your current Options settings.

There are three available profile slots for storing your options. You can rename them by selecting the profile names.

Select the Use these settings button/link to start using the options stored in that profile.

Select the Save active settings button/link to save your current options into that profile.

The Copy or edit field contains all your options for that profile. You can copy and paste these into an email or a file or into an email, file, or into another profile.

The Settings synchronization option will securely sync all your Filter setting between browsers using your subscription email address and a encryption key. You can make the encryption key whatever text you want (even tho there is nothing important in your settings, we still suggest making it something only you would know). To use this option the encryption key and the subscription email address must be exactly the same on all browsers. Your settings are encrypted using CryptoJS AES on your machine before sending to them to the SPOI sync server. The SPOI server will only ever hold an encrypted copy of your settings. There will be no way to decrypt or view your settings without the encryption key. If the SPOI sync server is ever compromised, the attacker will not be able to decrypt your settings without the encryption key.

Select Upload settings to server to upload your settings immediately to the SPOI sync server. Otherwise, your browser will check if it needs to send your settings several times per hour.

Select Get settings from server to download your settings immediately from the SPOI sync server. Otherwise, your browser will verify it has the most current settings several times per hour.

The Reset current active settings to Filter defaults button will reset all your active options to our factory default options. It will not modify any of your profile settings.

Settings will sync between all supported browsers (ie, Chrome to Safari to Opera to Firefox and back again).

 

The License tab

Enter in your case-sensitive email address that you used to register with.

If you have not subscribed yet, you can do so here.

Filter email box screenshot

Login to your PayPal account or select credit or debit card options. After your transaction has completed you can enter the email address you used on the subscription page on in the License tab. If the subscription process completed successfully, you should be able to start using Filter immediately. Otherwise, you can explore the options.

 

TheHelp tab

Get help with using Filter

Brings you here.

Report an issue

Provides you with a link to submit a trouble ticket. If the link does not work, our next preferred method for sending an email to support. Click on the But what if the site is not working? link. It includes all your current settings that we will need for troubleshooting. You get to edit it before sending, but we ask that you do not modify or remove any of the settings.

 

Installing & updating

Pick your browser:

Chrome

Firefox

Opera

Safari

 

Chrome

Install: While using Google Chrome, select “Install” from the Google Chrome Web Store page.

Uninstall: While using Google Chrome, go to the chrome menu menu, select the “More tools” or “Tools” menu, select the “Extensions” menu item. Find “SPOI Filter” and select the chrome trash button button.

Update: Like most things Google, this extension will update automatically when it detects a version update. If you absolutely must check for an update, while using Google Chrome, go to the chrome menu menu, select the “More tools” or “Tools” menu, select the “Extensions” menu item. Click on the “Developer mode” check-box or the “+” button. Click on the “Update extensions now” button. If Chrome finds an update, it will be downloaded automatically.

 

Firefox

Note: Minimum requirement is Firefox 26+.


Install: While using Mozilla Firefox, select DOWNLOAD > FIREFOX from the main page.

After you see something similar to this:
mac install screenshot
you must:

select the “Install Now” button.

Uninstall: While using Mozilla Firefox, go to the firefox menu menu, select the “Add-ons” menu, select the “Extension” tab. Find “SPOI Filter” and select the “Remove” button.

Firefox uninstall

Update: While using Mozilla Firefox, go to the firefox menu menu, select the “Add-ons” menu, select the “Extension” tab. Select the Sprocket menu > Check for Updates.

Firefox check for update

 

Safari

Note: Filter only works with Safari 5.1 – Safari 11.1.

Note: The Safari 7 version requires you to not have Block cookies and other website data set to Always.


Install: While using Apple Safari, select DOWNLOAD > SAFARI from the main page.

Depending on your settings and your version of Safari, you may need to find and open the Filter download in your Downloads folder.

When you see something similar to these:
mac install screenshot   safari install screenshot
you must select the “Install” or “Trust” button.

Uninstall: While using Apple Safari, go to the “Preferences” menu, select the “Extensions” tab. Find “SPOI Filter” and select the “Uninstall” button.

safari uninstall screenshot

Update: This extension will update automatically when it detects a version update. If you absolutely must check for an update, while using Apple Safari, go to the “Preferences” menu, select the “Extensions” tab, select the “Updates” button. If Safari finds an update, it will be downloaded automatically.

Remove from the OSX toolbar: View > Customize Toolbar...

Remove from the Windows toolbar: safari sprocket widget > Customize Toolbar...

 

Opera

Note: Minimum requirement is Opera 15+.


Install: While using Opera, select DOWNLOAD > OPERA from the main page.

  1. While using Opera
    OSX: go to the “View” menu and select the “Show Extensions” menu item.
    Windows: go to the “Opera” select the “Extensions” menu and select the “Show Extensions” menu item.
  2. Find the SPOI_Filter_1.8.XXX.crx download file in your downloads folder and drag it onto the Opera “Extensions” window/tab you opened in step 1.
  3. You may need to find “SPOI Filter” and select the “Install” button.
    select install button
  4. Select the “Install” button from the popup-menu.
    select another install button

OSX Uninstall: View > Show Extensions > SPOI Filter > Disable or select the “X” (Remove from Opera) button.

Windows Uninstall: Opera > Extensions > Show Extensions > SPOI Filter > Disable or select the “X” (Remove from Opera) button.

select x button

OSX Update: View > Show Extensions. Select the “Developer Mode” button. Select the “Update Extensions Now” button.

Windows Update: Opera > View > Extensions. Select the “Developer Mode” button. Select the “Update Extensions Now” button.

select Update Extensions Now button