3.22. The Statusbar

The statusbar displays informational messages.

In general, the left side will show context related information, the middle part will show information about the current capture file, and the right side will show the selected configuration profile. Drag the handles between the text areas to change the size.

Figure 3.21. The initial Statusbar

ws statusbar empty

This statusbar is shown while no capture file is loaded, e.g., when Wireshark is started.

Figure 3.22. The Statusbar with a loaded capture file

ws statusbar loaded

The colorized bullet…​
on the left shows the highest expert information level found in the currently loaded capture file. Hovering the mouse over this icon will show a description of the expert info level, and clicking the icon will bring up the Expert Information dialog box. For a detailed description of this dialog and each expert level, see Section 7.4, “Expert Information”.
The edit icon…​
on the left side lets you add a comment to the capture file using the Capture File Properties dialog.
The left side…​
shows the capture file name by default. It also shows field information when hovering over and selecting items in the packet detail and packet bytes panes, as well as general notifications.
The middle…​

shows the current number of packets in the capture file. The following values are displayed:

Packets
The number of captured packets.
Displayed
The number of packets currently being displayed.
Marked
The number of marked packets. Only displayed if you marked any packets.
Dropped
The number of dropped packets Only displayed if Wireshark was unable to capture all packets.
Ignored
The number of ignored packets Only displayed if you ignored any packets.
The right side…​
shows the selected configuration profile. Clicking on this part of the statusbar will bring up a menu with all available configuration profiles, and selecting from this list will change the configuration profile.

Figure 3.23. The Statusbar with a configuration profile menu

ws statusbar profile

For a detailed description of configuration profiles, see Section 11.6, “Configuration Profiles”.

Figure 3.24. The Statusbar with a selected protocol field

ws statusbar selected

This is displayed if you have selected a protocol field in the “Packet Details” pane.

[Tip]Tip

The value between the parentheses (in this example “ipv6.src”) is the display filter field for the selected item. You can become more familiar with display filter fields by selecting different packet detail items.

Figure 3.25. The Statusbar with a display filter message

ws statusbar filter

This is displayed if you are trying to use a display filter which may have unexpected results.