Allow “Disable Blocking” sub-menu to show configurable times. The current sub-menu shows “Indefinitely” and up to 5 minutes. I’d like to be able to adjust the increments displayed or set custom duration according to my preferences. My most frequent disabled duration is 1 hour, while never use disable for 10 seconds.
This is already possible:
This is already possible
Not quite, I’m looking for a dedicated button, so I can disable in two clicks. In the current UI it’s three clicks + manually typing numbers.
With code, the Pi-hole API can be used to accomplish this to whatever value(s) needed. Better still, it can be the unblock, and even manual re-enabling blocking can each be accomplished via a single click.
Agreed! This would be an excellent addition!
I have to say the default time periods are the most USELESS assortment of durations ever.
I can't possibly overstate this point.
Being able to configure those presets would be amazing…
But if not, for all that is good and holy, please use more realistic and useful time spans!
10 seconds?! really? What is this a race? I gotta hit the button, tab over to the page, and refresh right away and hope my browser/machine decides to give it's cache a miss on the first try?
Come on now.
The options should be 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, Custom, Indefinitely, in that order.
Or preferably 1 minute, 3 minutes, 7 minutes, Custom, Indefinitely.
The provided options are truly the most useless options ever.
I find myself always hitting 5 minutes to give me enough time, then wondering, after I'm done, why I'm still getting ads for a couple minutes, or if I need it off for a longer process, wondering why the website I'm using broke midway through, before I realize it's been more than 5 minutes.
These times look good on paper, but in practice, they don't align well to the time different kinds of tasks take.
While 1, 3, and 7 seem like odd durations, they are far more representative to how long things would normally take. 10 seconds? No one uses that. No one can do what they need in 10 seconds. It's basically useless.
Honestly, you're 1,000,000% right. The 10 second option is totally useless.
I'd bet no one ever uses it, or when they do, are not able to use it successfully. 10 seconds is uselessly short.
30 seconds is very short but sometimes manageable if you're ready for it and it's a quick task. 5 minutes is too long for quick tasks, and too short for long tasks.
Most of the time when I'm using these options, it's because I'm trying to debug an issue where something isn't working properly on the network, and none of these options accommodate that or any other scenario I come across where I need to disable pi hole temporally.
It's like someone said "let's pick the worst durations we possibly can!" as a bet with a friend.
So painful.
A couple of TIPS :
- CTRL+F5 gives you a HARD REFRESH and should show the right version of the webpage in such a case!
- You can "Pull the Tab down" so to speak to convert it to a seperate browser window for faster switching between two websites!
Just click on the tab and move it down while holding your mousebutton pressed and release it once you see the tab becoming a seperate window but only being converted after you actually release the mousebutton.
(I know this sounds weird, but once you try it you will see what I mean...)
And another option could be to move the specific Client to a Group that has no Block Lists assigned and allows all the ads through and move it back once you are done 
No it doesn't. It's different from browser to browser, but in Firefox, to dump the cache, you're supposed to hold the shift key while refreshing... except, for some reason it doesn't always work. Ctrl+F5 is just a reload of the page, and it doesn't necessarily dump the cache unless you mash the everloving shit outta it...
I don't use tabbed browsing. Also, I know this already. I work in IT. 10 seconds is an unreasonably short duration of time. Also, it's far faster to use keyboard commands than to actually mouse over and click the tab, or mouse over and select the window...
But again, why do I need to rush? Why is this a fucking race? This is genuinely unnecessary. 10 seconds is a useless duration option in that menu.
Why? Why do I need to do so much work, when the Home Depot web page isn't loading correctly, and I'm trying to figure out if it's because their website is generally shit, or because pi hole is blocking it?
It doesn't need to be this difficult. Just give us reasonable duration options.
I'm sure it's really funny to someone on the Pi Hole team to know that we all have to do this sisyphean dance every time a page doesn't load... but it's really fucking annoying for the actual end user.
For the love of God, please stop torturing us. Just let us configure the preset times, or give us more reasonable presets.
BTW, I'm like 99% sure, the reason the durations are what they are is because when they were writing this feature, someone typed in "10" just to test it, then when it worked was like "30"… and thought, "hmm, we need something longer… 300! that's 5 minutes!" and then promptly forgot about the feature and never touched or revisited it again.
The APIs would allow crafting tools for any custom block time needed, I would think. See the /dns/blocking end point in the docs.
Actually, Firefox website describes this key combination as "Reload (override cache)":
As said before:
Yup, and it's wrong. You can try it yourself. It doesn't properly bypass the cache. It's a long standing issue in Firefox.
Other people have had similar issues: Client Challenge
As said before:
Again, a pain in the ass. It's easier just to hit 5 minutes, forget, then wonder why you're getting ads for a few minutes… or just wonder why the web page you're using just broke again, and have to hit another 5 minutes.
We're asking to make it easier… not harder.
Do we all really have to write our own separate scripts to fix something that should have been done properly in the first place in the UI and work for everyone?
I'd much rather change the code and submit a pull request if I'm going to do all that work… at least save the time and energy of all the other users out there.
The point of this feature request is that it's a pain point that affects a lot of people. Let's just do it right and offer actual useful durations in that menu, and, ideally, the ability to customize that menu.
For every person who points out an issue like this, there are hundreds if not thousands of others that feel the same way.
And for every asshole (eg. me) that writes a novel about how horrendous the state of something that should be simple is, there are yet other thousands of users that are frustrated and have said nothing.
I really don't understand peoples propensity for advocating for the status quo on little details like this that can have a big positive impact for everyone when the change is so minimal.
…like, it's not like we're asking for a huge rewrite of the UI. It's such a small change.
Odd, in another feature request topic, there was a mention of having two Pi-hole instances. Well, even with configurable disable blocking times, to change the blocking on a network with multiple Pi-hole instances, wouldn’t one have to visit each Pi-hole web interface and go disable blocking to ensure that blocking is disabled on the network..
To me, this seems like an extra step, too, and not to someone’s liking either, given that going to the custom blocking section of the web interface is not good enough. Interesting.
Hey Mr. Cool IT Guy could you chill out a bit ?!
I would understand your rage if it were against some "Big Evil Corp" company or something and you had bought some crappy product that they sell, but this is just the small nice team of developers that give you Pi-Hole for exactly 0,0 cents so there is no need to go all "RAGE MODE!!!111oneoneone" about this topic... DAMN... 
Added to what @nero355 says, the Pi-hole team does this all on their spare time. Give them a break and cool your jets, eh?
So let the process work. It's in the Feature Request forum, so what you do is let people vote on it using the tools provided and wait for the result. Make your case and let the voting be done; then the devs decide if it's got enough votes and is something that can be done with available resources.
Yeah, that's why it was another feature request that had nothing to do with this one.
Also… increasing the default options for deactivation times would give you time to do both if you're running two different instances for DNS redundancy, so it's actually yet another reason why being able to customize or using durations that make more sense is really good feedback.
IT guys are not cool. You've been mislead. We're like the janitors of the tech world, otherwise I'd make the pull request myself and wouldn't even bother with the discussion. Or just fork it. But I'm a useless programmer and the absolute slop I'd churn out would make the software on the THERAC-25 look safe and reliable.
Also, the only reason I mentioned it was because telling me I can separate tabs into their own window lead me to believe that you thought I don't know my way around a computer. I was giving context, not trying to stroke my own dick. There's not much to stroke there anyway.
It's not rage. I'm just drawing attention to the fact that the default set of options are basically useless aside from the 5 minute option, the custom option and the indefinite option.
I've been using Pi Hole for probably near a decade and while I do think those duration options are absolutely the most useless things in the whole interface, it's also clearly not bothered me enough if it took like 8 years for me to finally be like "can those be changed? because those settings are utterly useless".
I speak flamboyantly, use colourful language and I'm very descriptive and long winded in how I write. That doesn't mean I'm angry, because I'm definitely not.
I'm just trying to point out that these duration options are fuckin' useless! 
Relaxed human reaction time is about 1 second. So, you press the 10 second disable button, 1 second later you realize your click worked. 9 seconds left. You tab over to your new page, 8 seconds left, you get yourself oriented on the new page and hit refresh, 7 seconds left, the page loads takes about 3 seconds, 4 seconds left, you scan the page to see if it worked or if the cache didn't clear which takes about 3 seconds, 1 second left. BZZZTTTT! You're Outta timeeeeee!
Really? 10 seconds is one of the defaults?
Let's all try and time ourselves. See how long it takes. I'm sure about half of us will be able to do it in 10 seconds, some maybe even in just 5… But we're ready for this. We're timing ourselves, we're here trying to prove that nabeelr asshole guy on the forums wrong.
Now, take yourself out of your shoes for a moment, and put yourself in the place of a user trying to figure out why a web page isn't working right…
Do you think they're even going to pick the 10 second option? Do you think in that state of being unsure they're going to only give themselves 10 seconds? No way. 30 seconds? Maybe. But I'm willing to bet, most people go for that 5 minute button, because that's the only one that really gives you room to breath.
I'm not raging, I'm trying to draw attention to how ridiculous the presented options are.
Because if you think about it… they are REALLY ridiculous. And they've been like this for almost 10 years.
I'm not mad. I'm just saying… it's kinda bad… and for something so simple too.
It doesn't matter, I, and I'd hazard 80% of users all go straight for the 5 minute button, and we all can keep doing that.
I'm just baffled that 10 seconds is even an option, and that it's been an option for sooooo long.
I'm casting no judgments on the Pi-Hole team, I am very appreciative of their software.
Similar to being in a car with a friend that always gives you a ride… when you see them go towards a very obvious orange cone and plow it over, you're liable to say "bruh, wtf man? Like that shit was all big and orange, how did you not notice it?!" Doesn't mean you don't appreciate the free rides, nor does it mean that they aren't a competent driver—we all have lapses in judgment sometimes. But like bruh, the cone was big, and orange, and we're currently parked half over-top of it… how did you miss it?
I think you guys are interpreting my writing style as more than it is.
This is how I write, and this is how I talk. Yes, it also means that I yammer on and on and don't shut up in real life either.
In real life however, we both have the benefit of facial expressions, and you guys would see that I'm saying all this while animated like a manic smiling cartoon character, and I'd shut up when I'd see your eyes glaze over… which is usually my cue.