Memory is on and Claude has built up a useful picture of how you work. For the next fortnight you are on an unrelated confidential matter and want nothing new recorded, while keeping everything already there. What do you choose?

The principle — Claude's two memory controls sound like a soft and a hard version of the same thing, and one of them is irreversible.

Why the key is correct — Anthropic describes pausing as Claude keeping its existing memory but not using it or making new memories, and says conversations held while memory is paused are not summarised into it should you turn the feature back on. That is exactly the shape of the requirement: nothing new recorded, nothing already there lost.

Why the others are wrong — reset permanently deletes all memories, including project memories, and cannot be undone; deleting chats afterwards is unreliable housekeeping rather than a control; and nothing lets you label a conversation confidential and have Claude skip it.

Remember this — pause is reversible, reset is not. When the requirement is temporary, the reversible control is the right one.

Sources — Anthropic's guide to Claude's chat search and memory.