diff --git a/src/mol-io/writer/_spec/cif.spec.ts b/src/mol-io/writer/_spec/cif.spec.ts
index 0b5a8de6c1ab71315c7a7124a16bfdb7ab67fd87..11517de86846a1b24f978f4876fb99b91c0f3b78 100644
--- a/src/mol-io/writer/_spec/cif.spec.ts
+++ b/src/mol-io/writer/_spec/cif.spec.ts
@@ -78,38 +78,22 @@ const filter_aware_encoder1 = CifWriter.createEncoder({
     binary: true,
     binaryAutoClassifyEncoding: true
 });
-filter_aware_encoder1.setFilter(C.Category.filterOf([
-    { // allow only category atom_site
-        categoryName: 'atom_site',
-        behavior: 'whitelist'
-    }, { // for atom_site: allow only Cartn_x and Cartn_y
-        categoryName: 'atom_site',
-        columnName: 'Cartn_x',
-        behavior: 'whitelist'
-    }, {
-        categoryName: 'atom_site',
-        columnName: 'Cartn_y',
-        behavior: 'whitelist'
-    }
-]));
+filter_aware_encoder1.setFilter(C.Category.filterOf('atom_site\n' +
+'\n' +
+'atom_site.Cartn_x\n' +
+'atom_site.Cartn_y\n'));
 
 const filter_aware_encoder2 = CifWriter.createEncoder({
     binary: true
 });
-filter_aware_encoder2.setFilter(C.Category.filterOf([
-    { // ignore atom_site category
-        categoryName: 'atom_site',
-        behavior: 'blacklist'
-    }, { // exclude field2
-        categoryName: 'other_fields',
-        columnName: 'field2',
-        behavior: 'blacklist'
-    }
-]));
+filter_aware_encoder2.setFilter(C.Category.filterOf('!atom_site\n' +
+'\n' +
+'!other_fields.field2\n'));
 
 describe('filtering-config', () => {
     const decoded1 = process(filter_aware_encoder1);
 
+    console.log(decoded1.blocks[0]);
     const atom_site1 = decoded1.blocks[0].categories['atom_site'];
     const cartn_x1 = atom_site1.getField('Cartn_x');
     const cartn_y1 = atom_site1.getField('Cartn_y');
diff --git a/src/mol-io/writer/cif/encoder.ts b/src/mol-io/writer/cif/encoder.ts
index c8fa5f8ee870bee444154c2a594d90d7a277a4c2..49c155632911f02f25ee3d1aadc47aef8a21bbdc 100644
--- a/src/mol-io/writer/cif/encoder.ts
+++ b/src/mol-io/writer/cif/encoder.ts
@@ -140,22 +140,27 @@ export namespace Category {
 
     export type FilteringBehavior = 'whitelist' | 'blacklist';
 
-    export function filterOf(directives: FilteringDirective[]): Filter {
+    export function filterOf(directives: string): Filter {
         const cat_whitelist: string[] = [];
         const cat_blacklist: string[] = [];
         const field_whitelist: string[] = [];
         const field_blacklist: string[] = [];
 
-        for (const d of directives) {
-            const field = d.columnName;
-            const name = field ? d.categoryName + '.' + d.columnName : d.categoryName;
-            const list = d.behavior === 'whitelist' ? (field ? field_whitelist : cat_whitelist) : (field ? field_blacklist : cat_blacklist);
+        for (let d of directives.split(/[\r\n]+/)) {
+            // allow for empty lines in config
+            if (d.length === 0) continue;
+            // let ! denote blacklisted entries
+            const blacklist = /^!/.test(d);
+            if (blacklist) d = d.substr(1);
+            const split = d.split(/\./);
+            const field = split[1];
+            const list = blacklist ? (field ? field_blacklist : cat_blacklist) : (field ? field_whitelist : cat_whitelist);
 
-            list[list.length] = name;
+            list[list.length] = d;
 
             // ensure categories are aware about whitelisted columns
-            if (field && !cat_whitelist.includes(d.categoryName)) {
-                cat_whitelist[cat_whitelist.length] = d.categoryName;
+            if (field && !cat_whitelist.includes(split[0])) {
+                cat_whitelist[cat_whitelist.length] = split[0];
             }
         }