diff --git a/cypress/integration/deposit-admin.spec.js b/cypress/integration/deposit-admin.spec.js
--- a/cypress/integration/deposit-admin.spec.js
+++ b/cypress/integration/deposit-admin.spec.js
@@ -49,151 +49,6 @@
 
   });
 
-  it('Should filter out deposits matching excluding pattern from display', function() {
-    cy.adminLogin();
-    cy.visit(this.Urls.admin_deposit());
-
-    cy.server();
-
-    // entry supposed to be excluded from the display by default
-    let extraDeposit = {
-      'id': 10,
-      'external_id': 'check-deposit-3',
-      'reception_date': '2020-05-18T11:20:16Z',
-      'status': 'done',
-      'status_detail': null,
-      'swh_id': 'swh:1:dir:fb234417',
-      'swh_id_context': 'swh:1:dir:fb234417;origin=https://w.s.o/c-d-3;visit=swh:1:snp:181417fb;anchor=swh:1:rev:3d166604;path=/'
-    };
-
-    // of course, that's how to copy a list (an "array")
-    let testDeposits = responseDeposits.slice();
-    // and add a new element to that array by mutating it...
-    testDeposits.push(extraDeposit);
-    expectedOrigins[10] = 'https://w.s.o/c-d-3';
-
-    // ensure we don't touch the original reference
-    expect(responseDeposits.length).to.be.equal(3);
-    expect(testDeposits.length).to.be.equal(4);
-
-    cy.route({
-      method: 'GET',
-      url: `${this.Urls.admin_deposit_list()}**`,
-      response: {
-        'draw': 10,
-        'recordsTotal': testDeposits.length,
-        'recordsFiltered': testDeposits.length,
-        'data': testDeposits
-      }
-    }).as('listDeposits');
-
-    cy.location('pathname')
-      .should('be.equal', this.Urls.admin_deposit());
-    cy.url().should('include', '/admin/deposit');
-
-    cy.get('#swh-admin-deposit-list')
-      .should('exist');
-
-    cy.wait('@listDeposits').then((xhr) => {
-      let deposits = xhr.response.body.data;
-      expect(deposits.length).to.equal(testDeposits.length);
-
-      cy.get('#swh-admin-deposit-list').find('tbody > tr').as('rows');
-
-      // only 2 entries
-      cy.get('@rows').each((row, idx, collection) => {
-        let deposit = deposits[idx];
-        let responseDeposit = testDeposits[idx];
-        cy.log('deposit', deposit);
-        cy.log('responseDeposit', responseDeposit);
-        expect(deposit.id).to.be.equal(responseDeposit['id']);
-        expect(deposit.external_id).to.be.equal(responseDeposit['external_id']);
-        expect(deposit.status).to.be.equal(responseDeposit['status']);
-        expect(deposit.status_detail).to.be.equal(responseDeposit['status_detail']);
-        expect(deposit.swh_id).to.be.equal(responseDeposit['swh_id']);
-        expect(deposit.swh_id_context).to.be.equal(responseDeposit['swh_id_context']);
-
-        let expectedOrigin = expectedOrigins[deposit.id];
-
-        // part of the data, but it should not be displayed (got filtered out)
-        if (deposit.external_id === 'check-deposit-3') {
-          cy.contains(deposit.status).should('not.be.visible');
-          cy.contains(deposit.status_detail).should('not.be.visible');
-          cy.contains(deposit.external_id).should('not.be.visible');
-          cy.contains(expectedOrigin).should('not.be.visible');
-          cy.contains(deposit.swh_id).should('not.be.visible');
-          cy.contains(deposit.swh_id_context).should('not.be.visible');
-        } else {
-          expect(deposit.external_id).to.be.not.equal('check-deposit-3');
-          cy.contains(deposit.id).should('be.visible');
-          if (deposit.status !== 'rejected') {
-            cy.contains(deposit.external_id).should('not.be.visible');
-            cy.contains(expectedOrigin).should('be.visible');
-            // ensure it's in the dom
-          }
-          cy.contains(deposit.status).should('be.visible');
-          // those are hidden by default, so now visible
-          if (deposit.status_detail !== null) {
-            cy.contains(deposit.status_detail).should('not.be.visible');
-          }
-
-          // those are hidden by default
-          if (deposit.swh_id !== null) {
-            cy.contains(deposit.swh_id).should('not.be.visible');
-            cy.contains(deposit.swh_id_context).should('not.be.visible');
-          }
-        }
-      });
-
-      // toggling all links and ensure, the previous checks are inverted
-      cy.get('a.toggle-col').click({'multiple': true}).then(() => {
-        cy.get('#swh-admin-deposit-list').find('tbody > tr').as('rows');
-
-        cy.get('@rows').should('have.length', 3);
-
-        cy.get('@rows').each((row, idx, collection) => {
-          let deposit = deposits[idx];
-          let expectedOrigin = expectedOrigins[deposit.id];
-
-          // filtered out deposit
-          if (deposit.external_id === 'check-deposit-3') {
-            cy.contains(deposit.status).should('not.be.visible');
-            cy.contains(deposit.status_detail).should('not.be.visible');
-            cy.contains(deposit.external_id).should('not.be.visible');
-            cy.contains(expectedOrigin).should('not.be.visible');
-            cy.contains(deposit.swh_id).should('not.be.visible');
-            cy.contains(deposit.swh_id_context).should('not.be.visible');
-          } else {
-            expect(deposit.external_id).to.be.not.equal('check-deposit-3');
-            // ensure it's in the dom
-            cy.contains(deposit.id).should('not.be.visible');
-            if (deposit.status !== 'rejected') {
-              cy.contains(deposit.external_id).should('not.be.visible');
-              expect(row).to.contain(expectedOrigin);
-            }
-
-            expect(row).to.not.contain(deposit.status);
-            // those are hidden by default, so now visible
-            if (deposit.status_detail !== null) {
-              cy.contains(deposit.status_detail).should('be.visible');
-            }
-
-            // those are hidden by default, so now they should be visible
-            if (deposit.swh_id !== null) {
-              cy.contains(deposit.swh_id).should('be.visible');
-              cy.contains(deposit.swh_id_context).should('be.visible');
-            }
-          }
-        });
-      });
-
-      cy.get('#swh-admin-deposit-list-error')
-        .should('not.contain',
-                'An error occurred while retrieving the list of deposits');
-    });
-
-  });
-
   it('Should display properly entries', function() {
     cy.adminLogin();
     cy.visit(this.Urls.admin_deposit());
diff --git a/swh/web/admin/deposit.py b/swh/web/admin/deposit.py
--- a/swh/web/admin/deposit.py
+++ b/swh/web/admin/deposit.py
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
     deposits_list_auth = HTTPBasicAuth(
         config["private_api_user"], config["private_api_password"]
     )
-
     try:
         nb_deposits = requests.get(
             "%s?page_size=1" % deposits_list_url, auth=deposits_list_auth, timeout=30
@@ -65,6 +64,17 @@
                 )
             ]
 
+        exclude_pattern = request.GET.get("excludePattern")
+        if exclude_pattern:
+            deposits = [
+                d
+                for d in deposits
+                if all(
+                    exclude_pattern.lower() not in val
+                    for val in [str(v).lower() for v in d.values()]
+                )
+            ]
+
         column_order = request.GET["order[0][column]"]
         field_order = request.GET["columns[%s][name]" % column_order]
         order_dir = request.GET["order[0][dir]"]
diff --git a/swh/web/assets/src/bundles/admin/deposit.js b/swh/web/assets/src/bundles/admin/deposit.js
--- a/swh/web/assets/src/bundles/admin/deposit.js
+++ b/swh/web/assets/src/bundles/admin/deposit.js
@@ -15,30 +15,6 @@
   return data;
 }
 
-function filterDataWithExcludePattern(data, excludePattern) {
-  /* Return true if the data is to be filtered, false otherwise.
-
-    Args:
-      data (dict): row dict data
-      excludePattern (str): pattern to lookup in data columns
-
-    Returns:
-      true if the data is to be excluded (because it matches), false otherwise
-
-   */
-  if (excludePattern === '') {
-    return false; // otherwise, everything gets excluded
-  }
-  for (const key in data) {
-    let value = data[key];
-    if ((typeof value === 'string' || value instanceof String) &&
-        value.search(excludePattern) !== -1) {
-      return true; // exclude the data from filtering
-    }
-  }
-  return false;
-}
-
 export function initDepositAdmin() {
   let depositsTable;
   $(document).ready(() => {
@@ -58,39 +34,15 @@
         // i: (i)nfo
         // p: (p)agination
         // see https://datatables.net/examples/basic_init/dom.html
-        dom: '<<f<"#list-exclude">l>rt<"bottom"ip>>',
+        dom: '<<"d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"f' +
+             '<"#list-exclude">l>rt<"bottom"ip>>',
         // div#list-exclude is a custom filter added next to dataTable
         // initialization below through js dom manipulation, see
         // https://datatables.net/examples/advanced_init/dom_toolbar.html
         ajax: {
           url: Urls.admin_deposit_list(),
-          // filtering data set depending on the exclude search input
-          dataFilter: function(dataResponse) {
-            /* Filter out data returned by the server to exclude entries
-               matching the exclude pattern.
-
-              Args
-                dataResponse (str): the json response in string
-
-              Returns:
-                json response altered (in string)
-             */
-            //
-            let data = jQuery.parseJSON(dataResponse);
-            let excludePattern = $('#swh-admin-deposit-list-exclude-filter').val();
-            let recordsFiltered = 0;
-            let filteredData = [];
-            for (const row of data.data) {
-              if (filterDataWithExcludePattern(row, excludePattern)) {
-                recordsFiltered += 1;
-              } else {
-                filteredData.push(row);
-              }
-            }
-            // update data values
-            data['recordsFiltered'] = recordsFiltered;
-            data['data'] = filteredData;
-            return JSON.stringify(data);
+          data: d => {
+            d.excludePattern = $('#swh-admin-deposit-list-exclude-filter').val();
           }
         },
         columns: [