Uninstall

Deactivating Pet Central never removes anything. Your clients, pets, bookings and invoices sit exactly where they are, and switching it back on finds them all. This screen is only about what happens if you delete the plugin, which is a different thing WordPress treats differently.

By default, deleting it removes nothing either — which is what Pet Central has always done, and what every existing site is set to. Reinstalling picks up exactly where you left off.

The other choice is there because “keeps all of it forever, whatever you do” is not a good answer for somebody who has finished with the plugin and would rather their customers’ details were not left in the database. If you choose it, the screen lists what would go, counted from your own site rather than guessed from the software.

It asks you to type the words because there is no undo and no copy kept anywhere. Take a backup first; your host almost certainly makes one.

Example

You are closing the salon and want your customers’ details gone rather than sitting in a database nobody looks at. You read the list, see 194 records and 17 tables, type the words, save, and then delete the plugin.

FAQ

Does turning the plugin off delete anything?
No. Deactivating leaves everything untouched, and this setting has no effect on it. Only deleting the plugin does anything, and only if you have chosen removal here.

What happens if I do nothing?
Everything is kept. That is the default and it is what happened before this screen existed — deleting the plugin left every record behind and reinstalling found them again.

Are my pages and photographs removed?
No. Pages we created for you — the booking page, the app page — stay, because you may have written on them or linked to them. Photographs stay in your media library. We take our own mark off the sample pictures and leave the pictures.

Will I lose my login?
No. Every user account stays, including yours. Only the permissions this plugin added are taken away, and your administrator role is not one of them.

Can I get it back afterwards?
Only from a backup. There is no undo and nothing is kept anywhere — that is why it asks you to type the words.

I run two Pet Centrals. Does deleting one take the other?
No, and it will refuse rather than risk it. If the two have been given separate names, only this one’s records go. If they have not, they are genuinely sharing one set of records, so deleting one plugin would take the other business with it — in that case nothing at all is removed, and you will find this switch still turned on afterwards.

Why is it off to begin with?
Because people delete a plugin to fix a problem, to try a different one for a fortnight, or by mis-clicking on a list of thirty. For most plugins the cost of getting that wrong is the settings. Here it is your whole client book.