How to change fuel filter?

You are actually suppose to fill the filters from the tiny outside holes around the outer edge, but I have yet figured out how to do that well. But I'm told by the big boys that you go to the hardware store and get a bolt that will screw into the threads of the filter, and then with the bolt in place, you hold the bolt with the filter hanging underneath it and slowly fill the filter thru the outside holes. Do I do it that way? I'm not admitting to noth'ng.