active_admin.rb

# this stuff goes in config/initializers/active_admin.rb

ActiveAdmin.setup do |config|
    config.after_filter do
      save_search_filters  if respond_to?(:save_filters?) and save_filters?
    end

    config.before_filter :only => [:index, :show, :edit, :new, :create] do
    restore_search_filters if respond_to?(:save_filters?) and save_filters?

end

# put the following lines below the main ActiveAdmin.setup block (also in config/initializers/active_admin.rb)

require 'active_admin/filter_saver/controller'

ActiveAdmin.before_load do |app|
  # Add our Extensions
  ActiveAdmin::BaseController.send :include, ActiveAdmin::FilterSaver::Controller
end

controller.rb

# -*- encoding : utf-8 -*-
# put this in lib/active_admin/filter_saver/controller.rb

module ActiveAdmin
  module FilterSaver

    # Extends the ActiveAdmin controller to persist resource index filters between requests.
    #
    # @author David Daniell / тιηуηυмвєяѕ <[email protected]>
    module Controller


      def save_filters?
        false
      end

      private

      SAVED_FILTER_KEY = :last_search_filter

      def restore_search_filters
        filter_storage = session[SAVED_FILTER_KEY]
        if params[:clear_filters].present?
          params.delete :clear_filters
          if filter_storage
            logger.info{"clearing filter storage for #{controller_key}" }
            filter_storage.delete controller_key
          end
          if request.xhr?
            # we were requested via an ajax post from our custom JS
            # this render will abort the request, which is ok, since a GET request will immediately follow
            render json: { filters_cleared: true }  and return
          end
        elsif filter_storage && params[:action].to_sym == :index && params[:q].blank? && params[:commit].blank?
          saved_filters = filter_storage[controller_key]
          unless saved_filters.blank?
            flash.now[:notice] = 'Filters were restored to previous values'
            params[:q] = saved_filters
          end
        end
      end

      def save_search_filters
        if params[:action].to_sym == :index
          session[SAVED_FILTER_KEY] ||= Hash.new
          session[SAVED_FILTER_KEY][controller_key] = params[:q]
        end
      end

      # Get a symbol for keying the current controller in the saved-filter session storage.
      def controller_key
        #params[:controller].gsub(/\//, '_').to_sym
        current_path = request.env['PATH_INFO']
        current_route = Rails.application.routes.recognize_path(current_path)
        current_route.sort.flatten.join('-').gsub(/\//, '_').to_sym
      end

    end

  end
end

ActiveAdmin.before_load do |app|
  # Add our Extensions
  ActiveAdmin::BaseController.send :include, ActiveAdmin::FilterSaver::Controller
end

index-filters.coffee

$ ->

  # Extend the clear-filters button to clear saved filters
  $('.clear_filters_btn').click (evt) ->
    # This will send a synchronous post with clear_filters set to true -
    # our AA FilterSaver controller extension looks for this parameter to
    # know when to clear session-stored filters for a resource - and then
    # the default AA clear-filters button behavior will issue a get request
    # to actually re-render the page.
    $.ajax this.href, {
      async: false,
      data: { clear_filters: true },
      type: 'GET'
    }