diff --git a/docs/en/04_Changelogs/4.3.0.md b/docs/en/04_Changelogs/4.3.0.md
index 9dba198d9..3965ad378 100644
--- a/docs/en/04_Changelogs/4.3.0.md
+++ b/docs/en/04_Changelogs/4.3.0.md
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ To enable the legacy search API on a `GridFieldFilterHeader`, you can either:
 * set the `useLegacyFilterHeader` property to `true`,
 * or pass `true` to the first argument of its constructor.
 
+To force the legacy search API on all instances of `GridFieldFilterHeader`, you can set it in your [configuration file](../../configuration):
+```yml
+SilverStripe\Forms\GridField\GridFieldFilterHeader:
+  force_legacy: true
+```
+
 ```php
 public function getCMSFields()
 {
diff --git a/src/Forms/GridField/GridFieldFilterHeader.php b/src/Forms/GridField/GridFieldFilterHeader.php
index ab0dd58e0..2d2440877 100755
--- a/src/Forms/GridField/GridFieldFilterHeader.php
+++ b/src/Forms/GridField/GridFieldFilterHeader.php
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ use LogicException;
 use SilverStripe\Admin\LeftAndMain;
 use SilverStripe\Control\Controller;
 use SilverStripe\Control\HTTPResponse;
+use SilverStripe\Core\Config\Config;
 use SilverStripe\Core\Convert;
 use SilverStripe\Dev\Deprecation;
 use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldGroup;
@@ -43,6 +44,16 @@ class GridFieldFilterHeader implements GridField_URLHandler, GridField_HTMLProvi
      */
     public $useLegacyFilterHeader = false;
 
+    /**
+     * Forces all filter components to revert to displaying the legacy
+     * table header style rather than the react driven search box
+     *
+     * @deprecated 4.3.0:5.0.0 Will be removed in 5.0
+     * @config
+     * @var bool
+     */
+    private static $force_legacy = false;
+
     /**
      * @var \SilverStripe\ORM\Search\SearchContext
      */
@@ -76,7 +87,7 @@ class GridFieldFilterHeader implements GridField_URLHandler, GridField_HTMLProvi
     }
 
     /**
-     * @param bool $useLegacy
+     * @param bool $useLegacy This will be removed in 5.0
      * @param callable|null $updateSearchContext This will be removed in 5.0
      * @param callable|null $updateSearchForm This will be removed in 5.0
      */
@@ -85,7 +96,7 @@ class GridFieldFilterHeader implements GridField_URLHandler, GridField_HTMLProvi
         callable $updateSearchContext = null,
         callable $updateSearchForm = null
     ) {
-        $this->useLegacyFilterHeader = $useLegacy;
+        $this->useLegacyFilterHeader = Config::inst()->get(self::class, 'force_legacy') || $useLegacy;
         $this->updateSearchContextCallback = $updateSearchContext;
         $this->updateSearchFormCallback = $updateSearchForm;
     }