Item Filter - Does it work on unidentified items?

So I am back to POE for the first time since like 2014 and one of the best additions while I was away are item filters. I have played around with creating my own for my purposes and they are awesome for filtering out junk. I'm a coder by trade so the syntax of them is something I grasped right away and with a little trial and error looking at some examples was able to create some very simple item filters that filter out junk I don't want ot see.

But now that I'm entering end-game and mapping, a TON of rares are dropping all over the place and of course 99% of them are junk. I still gotta pick them up and ID them and look at them to know if they are junk.

As best I could tell, the mod filters only work on ID'd items? Can you filter by affixes on uni'd stuff and I'm just not getting it?

Because short of that I don't see how item filters are that useful once you get to mapping and rares are dropping by the hundreds. Most rares are junk but a select few are really great. I still gotta pick it all up and id it and scan it?

Do people just filter by the base types they are looking for specifically?

No, what you are talking about is like having a crystal ball to see beyond veil of identification, its not part of the game, other than in some cases it is possible to get items dropping identified. I think heist is one example where this can be possible.

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But now that I'm entering end-game and mapping, a TON of rares are dropping all over the place and of course 99% of them are junk. I still gotta pick them up and ID them and look at them to know if they are junk.

Yes most people won't be picking up rare items currently, unless perhaps in ruthless mode. Perhaps not the best design.

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Do people just filter by the base types they are looking for specifically?

Yes, some people will do this if they are looking for something specific like for example lvl86+ base. Depending on what you are looking for and what mode you are playing and how far you have progressed. If playing SSF I might have these selected on my filter, but currently in trade it is not worth it so I'm using a much stricter filter. So you might have a filter while gearing and levelling, then switch it to a much stricter filter once you have the items you want. Currently most people get their items by crafting or buying them, rather than picking them off the ground. There's a chance you will find something good picking everything up, but the more you are picking up the longer it will take. I'm currently using the uber strict neversync filter, some rare items still show, but its mainly stuff that can roll exotic mods like alva/delve/veiled.