diff --git a/docs/example-widget-filter.html b/docs/example-widget-filter.html
index 7d6dd3b92..6b4b48181 100644
--- a/docs/example-widget-filter.html
+++ b/docs/example-widget-filter.html
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@
 			// jQuery selector string of an element used to reset the filters
 			filter_reset : 'button.reset',
 
+			// Use the $.tablesorter.storage utility to save the most recent filters (default setting is false)
+			filter_saveFilters : true,
+
 			// Delay in milliseconds before the filter widget starts searching; This option prevents searching for
 			// every character while typing and should make searching large tables faster.
 			filter_searchDelay : 300,
@@ -195,6 +198,7 @@ <h3>Flexible client-side table sorting</h3>
 		<h3><a href="#">Notes</a></h3>
 		<div>
 			<ul>
+				<li>Added &amp; set <code>filter_saveFilters</code> to <code>true</code> (default is <code>false</code>) in this demo (<span class="version">v2.14</span>).</li>
 				<li>Hover over the grey bar below the table header to open the filter row. Disable this by setting <code>filter_hideFilters</code> option to <code>false</code>.</li>
 				<li>This widget uses jQuery's <code>.nextUntil()</code> function which is only available is jQuery version 1.4+.</li>
 				<li>This widget does work with tablesorter v2.0.5.</li>
@@ -239,6 +243,7 @@ <h3>Filter widget defaults (added inside of tablesorter <code>widgetOptions</cod
 				<li><code>filter_liveSearch : true</code> - if true, search column content while the user types (with a delay). If false, the user must press enter to start the search. If set to a number, when the length of the input text reaches this minimum length, a search will initiate.</li>
 				<li><code>filter_onlyAvail : 'filter-onlyAvail'</code> - a header with a select dropdown &amp; this class name will only show available (visible) options within that drop down.</li>
 				<li><code>filter_reset : null</code> - jQuery selector string of an element used to reset the filters.</li>
+				<li><code>filter_saveFilters : false</code> - Uses the <code>$.tablesorter.storage</code> utility to save the most recent filters.</li>
 				<li><code>filter_searchDelay : 300</code> - typing delay in milliseconds before starting a search.</li>
 				<li><code>filter_serversideFiltering : false</code> - if true, filter will be done server-side. The client-side filtering will be disabled, but the ui and events will still be used.</li>
 				<li><code>filter_startsWith : false</code> - if true, filter start from the beginning of the cell contents.</li>
@@ -339,8 +344,8 @@ <h1>Demo</h1>
 	<hr>
 
 	<div id="demo">
-	<button type="button" data-filter-column="5" data-filter-text="2?%">Saved Search</button> (search the Discount column for &quot;2?%&quot;)<br>
-	<button type="button" class="reset">Reset Search</button> <!-- targeted by the "filter_reset" option -->
+	Search <button type="button" data-filter-column="5" data-filter-text="2?%">2?%</button> in the Discount column<br>
+	<button type="button" class="reset">Reset</button> <!-- targeted by the "filter_reset" option -->
 
 	<table class="tablesorter">
 	<thead>
diff --git a/docs/index.html b/docs/index.html
index 4d64b8d19..cffa33b20 100644
--- a/docs/index.html
+++ b/docs/index.html
@@ -1437,6 +1437,8 @@ <h1>Configuration</h1>
       filter_onlyAvail     : 'filter-onlyAvail',
       // jQuery selector string of an element used to reset the filters.
       filter_reset         : null,
+      // Use the $.tablesorter.storage utility to save the most recent filters
+      filter_saveFilters   : false,  
       // typing delay in milliseconds before starting a search.
       filter_searchDelay   : 300,
       // if true, filter start from the beginning of the cell contents.
@@ -2088,6 +2090,23 @@ <h4>Comparison example</h4>
 				<td><a href="example-widget-filter-custom.html">Example</a></td>
 			</tr>
 
+			<tr id="widget-filter-savefilters">
+				<td><a href="#" class="permalink">filter_saveFilters</a></td>
+				<td>Boolean</td>
+				<td>false</td>
+				<td>
+					Filter widget: If the storage utility is available (included with <code>jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js</code>, the last applied filter is saved to storage (<span class="version">v2.14</span>).
+					<div class="collapsible">
+					<br>
+					Filters saved to local storage (or cookies) will over-ride any default filters within the header data-attribute (set by the <a href="#widget-filter-defaultattrib"><code>filter_defaultAttrib</code> option</a> and be available to the pager before any ajax calls are made.<br>
+					<br>
+					To bypass this behavior, clear out the saved filters as follows:
+					<pre class="prettyprint lang-js">$.tablesorter.storage( $('table'), 'tablesorter-filters', '' );</pre>
+					</div>
+				</td>
+				<td><a href="example-widget-filter-custom.html">Example</a></td>
+			</tr>
+
 			<tr id="widget-filter-searchdelay">
 				<td><a href="#" class="permalink">filter_searchDelay</a></td>
 				<td>Numeric</td>
diff --git a/js/jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js b/js/jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js
index bfb926c2c..31c7b8a30 100644
--- a/js/jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js
+++ b/js/jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js
@@ -348,6 +348,7 @@ ts.addWidget({
 		filter_liveSearch    : true,  // if true, search column content while the user types (with a delay)
 		filter_onlyAvail     : 'filter-onlyAvail', // a header with a select dropdown & this class name will only show available (visible) options within the drop down
 		filter_reset         : null,  // jQuery selector string of an element used to reset the filters
+		filter_saveFilters   : false, // Use the $.tablesorter.storage utility to save the most recent filters
 		filter_searchDelay   : 300,   // typing delay in milliseconds before starting a search
 		filter_startsWith    : false, // if true, filter start from the beginning of the cell contents
 		filter_useParsedData : false, // filter all data using parsed content
@@ -624,18 +625,26 @@ ts.filter = {
 			if (filters.length) {
 				ts.setFilters(table, filters, true);
 			}
+			ts.filter.checkFilters(table, filters);
 		});
 		// filter widget initialized
 		wo.filter_Initialized = true;
 		c.$table.trigger('filterInit');
-		ts.filter.checkFilters(table);
 	},
 	setDefaults: function(table, c, wo) {
 		var indx,
 			filters = [],
 			columns = c.columns;
-		for (indx = 0; indx < columns; indx++) {
-			filters[indx] = c.$headers.filter('[data-column="' + indx + '"]:last').attr(wo.filter_defaultAttrib) || filters[indx];
+		if (wo.filter_saveFilters && ts.storage) {
+			filters = ts.storage( table, 'tablesorter-filters' ) || [];
+			// make sure we're not just saving an empty array
+			if (filters.join('') === '') { filters = []; }
+		}
+		// if not filters saved, then check default settings
+		if (!filters.length) {
+			for (indx = 0; indx < columns; indx++) {
+				filters[indx] = c.$headers.filter('[data-column="' + indx + '"]:last').attr(wo.filter_defaultAttrib) || filters[indx];
+			}
 		}
 		$(table).data('lastSearch', filters);
 		return filters;
@@ -915,6 +924,9 @@ ts.filter = {
 		c.lastCombinedFilter = combinedFilters; // save last search
 		c.lastSearch = filters;
 		c.$table.data('lastSearch', filters);
+		if (wo.filter_saveFilters && ts.storage) {
+			ts.storage( table, 'tablesorter-filters', filters );
+		}
 		if (c.debug) {
 			ts.benchmark("Completed filter widget search", time);
 		}