How to Pause or Delete a Website Monitor in Distill.io

To pause a website monitor in Distill.io, open the Watchlist and switch its ON/OFF control off. To pause several, select them and choose Batch Edit → Switch OFF. To delete a monitor, select it and click the trash button; Distill documents that this moves the monitor to trash.

Pause one Distill monitor

1. Open the Distill Watchlist in the browser extension or the web app. The Watchlist is where Distill monitors are viewed and managed.
2. Find the monitor you want to stop checking.
3. Click its ON/OFF button to switch it off.

This disables that individual monitor. It is different from turning off local monitoring for the extension as a whole.

Pause several monitors at once

1. In the Watchlist, select each monitor you want to pause using its checkbox.
2. Click Batch Edit.
3. Choose Switch OFF.

Use the individual ON/OFF control when changing one monitor, and Batch Edit when changing a selected group.

Delete a Distill monitor

1. Select the monitor in the Watchlist.
2. Click the trash button.

Distill’s instructions say the monitor is moved to trash. The cited documentation does not specify whether or how a trashed monitor can be restored, or when it is permanently removed. If you may need the monitor configuration later, check the current account behavior before deleting it.

Local monitoring versus an individual monitor

Distill describes local monitors as checks run using a browser or PC, while cloud monitors run on Distill’s servers. The documented pause and delete steps are Watchlist actions; the documentation reviewed for this guide does not describe a different pause or delete workflow based on whether a monitor is local or cloud.

There is also a separate extension-menu action, Turn Local Monitoring OFF. That turns off local monitoring. It is not the same as switching an individual monitor off in the Watchlist.

Quick decision guide

What you want to do	Action	Scope
Stop checks for one monitor	Click its ON/OFF control	One monitor
Stop checks for several monitors	Select them, then Batch Edit → Switch OFF	Selected monitors
Remove a monitor from the active Watchlist	Select it and click the trash button	Selected monitor; moved to trash
Turn off local monitoring	Extension menu → Turn Local Monitoring OFF	Local monitoring

Troubleshooting

The monitor still appears in the Watchlist after I switch it off

Switching it off disables the monitor; it does not delete it. Use the trash button if your intent is to remove it from the active list.

I cannot find Batch Edit

First select monitors using their checkboxes. The documented bulk workflow is to select the monitors, click Batch Edit, then choose Switch OFF.

I turned off local monitoring, but a monitor is still enabled

The extension menu’s local-monitoring control affects local monitoring. To disable one monitor, return to the Watchlist and switch that monitor’s ON/OFF control off.

I deleted a monitor and want to restore it

The cited instructions only confirm that deletion moves the monitor to trash. They do not establish the restore process or retention period. Check Distill’s current interface or help before relying on recovery.

The web app and extension look different

Both provide Watchlist access, and the web app also exposes quick actions in the dropdown beside an individual monitor. Look for the monitor-management action in the Watchlist rather than assuming that local and cloud monitors have separate deletion procedures.

Or skip the browser setup

Distill is for monitoring changes over time; ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server for developers when you need a page capture. A single request returns a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. Cookie banners are accepted and more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets can be removed before capture, with each step configurable. Bot checks, blank pages, failed loads, timeouts, and cache hits are not billed, and response headers report the page verdict and billing status. An MCP server gives Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients screenshot, page-info, and PDF tools. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000.

cURL (save the response as a WebP file):

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp

Python:

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot",
    params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"},
    timeout=90,
)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)

Node.js (Node.js with built-in fetch):

const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Screenshot request failed: ${res.status}`);
await import('node:fs/promises').then(fs => fs.writeFile('shot.webp', Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer())));

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your ScreenshotNeo key and change the target URL as needed. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options, formats, and configuration. ScreenshotNeo also supports full-page and element captures, viewport and device settings, custom CSS or JavaScript, wait conditions, request blocking, caching, signed links, asynchronous jobs, and bulk capture.

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FAQ

Does switching a monitor off delete it?

No. Switching it off disables checks; deletion is a separate trash-button action.

Are local and cloud monitors paused differently?

The cited Distill guidance describes the same Watchlist controls and does not specify a separate pause or delete procedure for each monitoring mode.

Does Distill permanently delete a monitor when I click the trash button?

The documented result is that the monitor moves to trash. The cited instructions do not say when permanent deletion occurs.

Sources

• Distill Chrome Extension: Monitor Website Changes — individual and batch controls, local-monitoring control, and deletion action.
• What is Watchlist? — Watchlist access and management context.
• Local Monitor vs. Cloud Monitor — where local and cloud checks run.