A view's filter defines what contacts or members are displayed in the view. Because a filter is part of the view's design, the view displays only the contacts or members that match the filter every time anyone opens the view. In other words, the filter is always on.
For public views, a filter can only be changed by:
A user with Manage privileges, for the Contacts application.
A site administrator, for the Members application.
Members can change the filters on their personal views at any time.
By contrast, any user can search in a view to retrieve a set of contacts or members that match the criteria they type into the Search box. The search is performed only on contacts or members that match the view's filter, so the search results are the contacts or members that match both the filter and search criteria.
Note: There is no way for a user to save a search string for future use; they must type it in each time.