3.7. The “View” Menu

The Wireshark View menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.4, “View menu items”.

Figure 3.5. The “View” Menu

ws view menu

Table 3.4. View menu items

Menu ItemAcceleratorDescription

Main Toolbar

 

This menu item hides or shows the main toolbar, see Section 3.16, “The “Main” Toolbar”.

Filter Toolbar

 

This menu item hides or shows the filter toolbar, see Section 3.17, “The “Filter” Toolbar”.

Wireless Toolbar

 

This menu item hides or shows the wireless toolbar. May not be present on some platforms.

Statusbar

 

This menu item hides or shows the statusbar, see Section 3.21, “The Statusbar”.

Packet List

 

This menu item hides or shows the packet list pane, see Section 3.18, “The “Packet List” Pane”.

Packet Details

 

This menu item hides or shows the packet details pane, see Section 3.19, “The “Packet Details” Pane”.

Packet Bytes

 

This menu item hides or shows the packet bytes pane, see Section 3.20, “The “Packet Bytes” Pane”.

Time Display FormatDate and Time of Day: 1970-01-01 01:02:03.123456

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display the time stamps in date and time of day format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

The fields “Time of Day”, “Date and Time of Day”, “Seconds Since Beginning of Capture”, “Seconds Since Previous Captured Packet” and “Seconds Since Previous Displayed Packet” are mutually exclusive.

Time Display FormatTime of Day: 01:02:03.123456

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in time of day format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

Time Display FormatSeconds Since Epoch (1970-01-01): 1234567890.123456

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

Time Display FormatSeconds Since Beginning of Capture: 123.123456

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds since beginning of capture format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

Time Display FormatSeconds Since Previous Captured Packet: 1.123456

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds since previous captured packet format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

Time Display FormatSeconds Since Previous Displayed Packet: 1.123456

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds since previous displayed packet format, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

Time Display FormatAutomatic (File Format Precision)

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with the precision given by the capture file format used, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

The fields “Automatic”, “Seconds” and “…​seconds” are mutually exclusive.

Time Display FormatSeconds: 0

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with a precision of one second, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

Time Display Format…​seconds: 0…​.

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with a precision of one second, decisecond, centisecond, millisecond, microsecond or nanosecond, see Section 6.12, “Time Display Formats And Time References”.

Time Display FormatDisplay Seconds with hours and minutes

 

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds, with hours and minutes.

Name ResolutionResolve Name

 

This item allows you to trigger a name resolve of the current packet only, see Section 7.9, “Name Resolution”.

Name ResolutionEnable for MAC Layer

 

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark translates MAC addresses into names, see Section 7.9, “Name Resolution”.

Name ResolutionEnable for Network Layer

 

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark translates network addresses into names, see Section 7.9, “Name Resolution”.

Name ResolutionEnable for Transport Layer

 

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark translates transport addresses into names, see Section 7.9, “Name Resolution”.

Colorize Packet List

 

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark should colorize the packet list.

Enabling colorization will slow down the display of new packets while capturing or loading capture files.

Auto Scroll in Live Capture

 

This item allows you to specify that Wireshark should scroll the packet list pane as new packets come in, so you are always looking at the last packet. If you do not specify this, Wireshark simply adds new packets onto the end of the list, but does not scroll the packet list pane.

Zoom In

Ctrl++

Zoom into the packet data (increase the font size).

Zoom Out

Ctrl+-

Zoom out of the packet data (decrease the font size).

Normal Size

Ctrl+=

Set zoom level back to 100% (set font size back to normal).

Resize All Columns

Shift+Ctrl+R

Resize all column widths so the content will fit into it.

Resizing may take a significant amount of time, especially if a large capture file is loaded.

Displayed Columns

 

This menu items folds out with a list of all configured columns. These columns can now be shown or hidden in the packet list.

Expand Subtrees

Shift+

This menu item expands the currently selected subtree in the packet details tree.

Collapse Subtrees

Shift+

This menu item collapses the currently selected subtree in the packet details tree.

Expand All

Ctrl+

Wireshark keeps a list of all the protocol subtrees that are expanded, and uses it to ensure that the correct subtrees are expanded when you display a packet. This menu item expands all subtrees in all packets in the capture.

Collapse All

Ctrl+

This menu item collapses the tree view of all packets in the capture list.

Colorize Conversation

 

This menu item brings up a submenu that allows you to color packets in the packet list pane based on the addresses of the currently selected packet. This makes it easy to distinguish packets belonging to different conversations. Section 11.3, “Packet colorization”.

Colorize ConversationColor 1-10

 

These menu items enable one of the ten temporary color filters based on the currently selected conversation.

Colorize ConversationReset coloring

 

This menu item clears all temporary coloring rules.

Colorize ConversationNew Coloring Rule…​

 

This menu item opens a dialog window in which a new permanent coloring rule can be created based on the currently selected conversation.

Coloring Rules…​

 

This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to color packets in the packet list pane according to filter expressions you choose. It can be very useful for spotting certain types of packets, see Section 11.3, “Packet colorization”.

Internals

 

Information about various internal data structures. See Table 3.5, “Internals menu items” below for more information.

Show Packet in New Window

 

Shows the selected packet in a separate window. The separate window shows only the packet details and bytes. See Figure 6.2, “Viewing a packet in a separate window” for details.

Reload

Ctrl+R

This menu item allows you to reload the current capture file.


Table 3.5. Internals menu items

Menu ItemDescription

Conversation Hash Tables

Shows the tuples (address and port combinations) used to identify each conversation.

Dissector Tables

Shows tables of subdissector relationships.

Supported Protocols

Displays supported protocols and protocol fields.