You captured a screen, talked through the problems, hit Publish, and got a link at /r/<slug>. You never signed in. Now you are wondering whether that review is safe, whether it disappears, and how to keep it. Here are the questions people actually ask, with straight answers.
Do I have to sign in to publish a review?
No. You can open a fresh review, capture a window or screen, add your comments, and publish without an account. The review gets a public URL immediately, and anyone with that link can read it, export it to PDF or Word, or open the markdown version at /r/<slug>/markdown. Sign-in is optional and free, and publishing works exactly the same without it. That is the point of the tool: capture, talk or type, share, with no install and no signup blocking you. The full picture is on the Cobalt Capture home page.
What happens to a review I published without an account?
It gets saved and it stays live at its public URL for 30 days. During that window the link works for everyone you send it to. Reviewers can post comments on individual items. The PDF, Word, and markdown exports all work. Nothing about the review is degraded because you skipped the account step.
The catch is ownership. An anonymous review has no owner attached, so after 30 days it is not kept. If you want it to last beyond that, you claim it by signing in.
How does the 30-day window actually work?
The clock starts when you publish. For those 30 days the review behaves like any other: shareable, exportable, open to comments. If you sign in at any point inside that window and claim the review, the 30-day limit no longer applies and the review is kept permanently under your account.
If you do nothing and the window passes, the anonymous review is not retained. So the rule of thumb is simple: if the review matters past a month, sign in before the month is up. If it was a one-off you sent a colleague this afternoon, you may not care at all.
How do I claim an anonymous review?
Sign in on the same browser where you published, using the same email you will keep using. Sign-in is by Google or by an emailed magic link, both handled through Supabase. Once you are signed in, the review you published anonymously is claimed and attached to your account. The public URL does not change, so any link you already sent keeps working.
Claiming also gives you the owner-facing features that an anonymous review does not surface, like the ability to mark comments resolved and to see visit counts and visitor geography for the review.
What is a magic link and why use it instead of a password?
A magic link is a one-time sign-in link sent to your email. You enter your address, you get an email, you click the link, and you are signed in. There is no password to create or remember. If you would rather not add another Google login to your day, this is the lighter option. Either method claims the review the same way.
Will the public link change when I claim the review?
No. The slug stays the same, so the URL you already pasted into an email or a chat keeps pointing at the same review. Anyone reading it, or leaving a comment on an item, is unaffected. Claiming is a background change of ownership, not a republish.
Should I just sign in before I publish?
If you already know the review needs to stick around, yes. Signing in first means the review is owned from the moment you publish and you never have to think about the 30-day window. This is the sensible default for work you send clients or hand to a developer. A common pattern is one review shared as two links, one for the client and one for whoever fixes the issues, and you want that owned from the start.
If you are testing the tool or firing off a quick note, the anonymous path is faster and you can always claim it later within the window.
Does claiming cost anything?
No. The tool is free to use, an account is free, and claiming a review is part of that. There is nothing to buy to keep a review permanently. The details are on the pricing page.
What if my reviewer is on Firefox or a locked-down machine?
None of this requires the reviewer to sign in. People with the link read and comment without an account. Ownership and claiming only concern you, the person who published. If your reviewer is on Firefox, note that dictation will not work there, so they type their comments instead; the rest of the flow is identical. There is a longer note on what changes when your reviewer is on Firefox.
What should I do right now?
If you have an anonymous review you want to keep, open it in the browser you published from and sign in with Google or a magic link today. That single step converts a 30-day link into a permanent one and turns on the owner controls. If you have not published yet and you know it matters, start the review signed in and skip the window entirely. For a broader look at how a captured review becomes something a person or an agent can read as clean markdown, the workflow is the same either way; the only thing sign-in changes is who owns the result.