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I understand that Chrome incognito mode will not preserve cookies or any data for that browsing session, however, should it have access to cookies etc from the normal Chrome session going on during the same time.

The reason I ask this is because one of the tests I am doing needs a brand new browser with no other info. Pretty much like a new machine and first run of the browser. Wondering if Chrome incognito would simulate that instead of cleaning up everything from settings every time I want to run that test.

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I can confirm that Incognito Mode does not have access to cookies, auto-fill form data, or WebSQL databases from normal mode. (At least, it does not carry over my GMail session, nor does it auto-fill my email or password into the login form).

As a web developer, Incognito mode is a great way to get an empty browser which provides a clean slate for testing a web page.

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    That's true, i cant get to my email session either, but then i can see the auto fill for the sites that i have visited on the Normal mode, may its only the history then?
    – skaneria
    Apr 29, 2013 at 16:26
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    Yes, the Omnibox seems to have access to my browsing history with regards to suggesting what I'm typing. Think of it more like the pages themselves are incognito, not the browser frame itself. Bookmarks and settings changes do persist, as documented on Chrome's help site. Apr 29, 2013 at 16:31
  • Also it has access to Normal session browse history. I can see visited URLs in the address bar once I type.
    – igor
    Jun 5, 2015 at 13:11
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    It shows auto-fill data on my machine. This is useful when I want to log in an alternative account in Incognito Mode, and I don't have to type my username and password every time. I also found that it will not create auto-fill data in Incognito Mode, so the auto-fill data is "read-only" in this mode. Oct 7, 2016 at 4:29
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However, when running a few Chromium incognito windows, all of them have access to all cookies, and it is not possible to clear browsing data. So starting another incognito window is not really helpful, it is not "clean". A bit confusing at first.

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When starting the first Incognito window, it uses a completely brand new and blank internal profile that has no cookies nor session data. Any cookies or session info are set immediately during that session. Further Incognito windows opened all share that same session, so they share the cookies/session data. But when the last Incognito window is closed all those cookies/session data is purged. None of the information is permanently saved.

And none of it can alter session info in Normal windows, because the Incognito windows run in a completely separate session.

This is per design and functionality of Incognito Mode( Source - Google Chrome).

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