# Exporting/importing saved filters

**URL:** <https://gramps.discourse.group/t/exporting-importing-saved-filters/931>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** hacks\
**Created:** [November 14, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/exporting-importing-saved-filters/931 "2020-11-14T23:43:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kingrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kingrat](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/kingrat)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/exporting-importing-saved-filters/931/1 "2020-11-14T23:43:14Z")

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I know the saved filters/searches are stored in ini files, and I can dig around and copy those to my new machine.

But is there an add-on or other way to easily export those and import them to a new installation?

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**Author:** ![anon9092048](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@anon9092048](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/anon9092048)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/exporting-importing-saved-filters/931/2 "2020-11-15T02:46:23Z")

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Simple answer is No!

Fyi somebody on the bugtracker has already asked for Gramps to handle it!

> **[0011408: Add Option for Saving filters when you Backup your Gramps database....](https://gramps-project.org/bugs/view.php?id=11408)**

> **[Template:Backup Omissions - Gramps](https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Template:Backup_Omissions)**

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**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/exporting-importing-saved-filters/931/3 "2020-11-15T03:51:51Z")

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I have a _ **really** _ ugly workaround.

I’ve saved a few of these items as Media objects. (You have to trick Gramps into doing it because the folders can’t be browsed. So I select another object and then manually overwrite the path.) Then I open the media object & copy the contents into a Note.

The Note & file path are in the database backup. I can reopen & restore the Custom Filters chunk.

Like I said: it is ugly… but it works.

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**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/exporting-importing-saved-filters/931/4 "2020-11-16T17:02:22Z")

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By the way, this hack also works for sharing custom filters.

It is a real pain to [fully describe the rules of a 5-stage custom filter](https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php/Example_filters#5-stage_FILTERS) and a greater pain to re-create it.

But pasting the filter chunk from the custom filter XML file is easy. And, if you have a shortcut to opening that file, it is easy to insert a shared filter into another Gramps installation.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/1X/2ac1e712b7adf612e31ca08a55419f4cf37c0158.png) [@system](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/exporting-importing-saved-filters/931/5 "2020-12-16T17:02:30Z")

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