3.4. The Menu

The Wireshark menu sits on top of the Wireshark window. An example is shown in Figure 3.2, “The Menu”.

[Note]Note!

Menu items will be greyed out if the corresponding feature isn't available. For example, you cannot save a capture file if you didn't capture or load any data before.

Figure 3.2. The Menu

The Menu

It contains the following items:

File

This menu contains items to open and merge capture files, save / print / export capture files in whole or in part, and to quit from Wireshark. See Section 3.5, “The "File" menu”.

Edit

This menu contains items to find a packet, time reference or mark one or more packets, set your preferences, (cut, copy, and paste are not presently implemented). See Section 3.6, “The "Edit" menu”.

View

This menu controls the display of the captured data, including colorization of packets, zooming the font, showing a packet in a separate window, expanding and collapsing trees in packet details, .... See Section 3.7, “The "View" menu”.

Go

This menu contains items to go to a specific packet. See Section 3.8, “The "Go" menu”.

Capture

This menu allows you to start and stop captures and to edit capture filters. See Section 3.9, “The "Capture" menu”.

Analyze

This menu contains items to manipulate display filters, enable or disable the dissection of protocols, configure user specified decodes and follow a TCP stream. See Section 3.10, “The "Analyze" menu”.

Statistics

This menu contains items to display various statistic windows, including a summary of the packets that have been captured, display protocol hierarchy statistics and much more. See Section 3.11, “The "Statistics" menu”.

Tools

This menu contains various tools available in Wireshark, such as creating Firewall ACL Rules. See Section 3.12, “The "Tools" menu”.

Help

This menu contains items to help the user, like access to some basic help, a list of the supported protocols, manual pages, online access to some of the webpages, and the usual about dialog. See Section 3.13, “The "Help" menu”.

Each of these menu items is described in more detail in the sections that follow.

[Tip]Tip!

You can access menu items directly or by pressing the corresponding accelerator keys, which are shown at the right side of the menu. For example, you can press the Control (or Strg in German) and the K keys together to open the capture dialog.