Turning a disguise off for a moment and removing it from the browser for good are two different actions. Docognito supports both separately, one through Shift Escape or its popup, the other through Chrome's own extension page. Only the second one deletes anything, and what it deletes is small.
Two different jobs, two different controls
Turning the disguise off is something you might do several times in a session, for a quick check, a screen share, or a moment when nobody is looking anyway. Uninstalling is something you would do once, deliberately, because you no longer want the extension in your browser at all. Docognito treats these as separate actions on purpose, rather than folding one into the other.
Shift and Escape, which both hides the disguise and brings it back is the fast path for the first job. The popup's on and off control does the same thing at a slower pace, useful when your hands are already on the mouse. Neither one touches the extension itself, only whether it is currently redrawing the page.
Which of the two you reach for is really a question of how long the change needs to last. A toggle answers a question about this exact moment, this call, this glance from a colleague walking past. Uninstalling answers a question about every future moment, since it removes the thing that would otherwise redraw the page again the next time you open a supported site.
What turning it off actually leaves in place
Toggle it off with Shift Escape or the popup
The document view disappears and the real claude.ai or chatgpt.com page shows through immediately, exactly as it would with the extension not installed at all.
Your conversation stays open
Nothing about the underlying page reloads or resets. Whatever you were typing or reading a moment ago is still there.
Toggle it back on the same way
The same shortcut or the same popup control brings the document view straight back, picking up from wherever the page currently sits.
Turning the disguise off does not clear anything Docognito has saved. Your choice of light or dark stays set, and the extension itself remains installed and ready the next time you switch it back on.
What removing it from Chrome clears
one browser permission, storage is the whole reason uninstalling is a small, predictable action rather than something that needs careful thought first. Chrome shows that permission before you ever install the extension, which means you already know in advance exactly what removing it can and cannot touch.
| Action | What it clears | What it leaves alone |
|---|---|---|
| Toggle off with Shift Escape or the popup | Nothing. The document view is simply not drawn until toggled back on | Your saved settings, your open tab, your conversation |
| Uninstall from chrome://extensions | The extension itself, and its saved settings, since one browser permission, storage is all it ever asked for | Your conversation, which lives in your account, not in the extension |
The row worth remembering is the second one. Because the extension only ever requests one browser permission, storage, there is nothing it could be holding onto beyond a small settings record, and removing the extension removes that along with it.
Your conversation never lived inside the extension in the first place
Docognito redraws a page it does not own and never stores a copy of what is on it. Uninstalling removes the extension and its settings. It has no effect on anything stored in your Claude or ChatGPT account, because none of that was ever the extension's to hold.
Removing it from Chrome entirely
Uninstalling works the same way as removing any other Chrome extension. Open chrome://extensions, find the Docognito card, and click Remove. Chrome asks you to confirm once, and the extension along with its small settings record is gone immediately afterward.
There is no separate cleanup step needed beyond that single page. Because Docognito never requested more than one browser permission, storage, there is no history entry, no saved credential, and no leftover file anywhere else in Chrome for the removal to miss.
What survives a browser restart
A closed laptop or a restarted browser does not undo either action on its own. A toggle stays wherever you last left it, on or off, the next time Chrome opens that site again, since the choice is part of the small settings record rather than something tied to a single browsing session. An uninstalled extension stays uninstalled the same way, and a reinstall afterward starts fresh rather than remembering anything from before.
Choosing between the two
Reach for the toggle when you expect to want the document view back within the same session, a call, a walk past your desk, a moment you would rather not explain. Reach for uninstalling only when you have decided you do not want the extension available at all, since it is the one action here that actually removes anything from Chrome, and it starts you back at the defaults if you ever install it again.
The reversible decision, and the one that is not
Toggle for anything short term. Uninstall only when you actually want the extension gone. The toggle leaves everything exactly as it was, and the uninstall clears only the extension and its own settings, never your conversations, because those were never stored anywhere the extension could reach.
Use Docognito and treat Shift Escape as your daily control, saving chrome://extensions for the day you actually mean to remove it.