Have you ever visited a website that looked different than it did the last time you were there? Or have you ever tried to access a website that wouldn’t load? If so, you may need to clear your browser’s cache.

Clearing your browser’s cache is an important task that website owners and developers should be familiar with. When a website is updated, sometimes the changes may not be visible on your browser because it’s still showing the old version of the website stored in its cache. In this article, we will explain what browser cache is and how to clear it to ensure that you can see the most recent version of your website.

What is Browser Cache?

When you visit a website, your browser stores some of its data such as images, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files in a temporary storage location called cache. This is done to speed up your browsing experience by allowing your browser to quickly retrieve and display commonly used files without having to download them every time you visit the website.

However, this can create issues when updates are made to the website because the cached files may not be updated automatically, which means that the browser may still show the old version of the website even after updates have been made.

Why Clearing Your Browser Cache is Important

Clearing your browser cache regularly is important because it ensures that you are viewing the most recent version of a website. This is especially important for website owners and developers who make frequent updates to their website.

It’s also important to clear your browser cache if you are experiencing any issues with a website such as broken links, missing images, or incorrect formatting. Clearing your cache will force your browser to retrieve the most up-to-date files from the website’s server, which can resolve these issues.

How to Clear Your Computer’s Browser Cache (three methods)

Here are the different ways to do this.

The Quickest Method

This is the easiest method to remember and should be the first method to try. This is called a hard reload.

Using your keyboard, click all buttons at the same time:

• Windows: Control + Shift + R or Control + F5 or Shift + F5
• Mac/Apple: Command + Shift + R

The Normal Method

This method uses a keyboard shortcut to access the cache settings.

1. Open your browser and go to the website you want to clear the cache for.
2. Using your keyboard, click all three buttons at the same time, Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows) or Command + Shift + Delete (Mac).
3. Select the time range you want to clear. To clear everything, select “All time.”
4. I like to uncheck all the boxes except for “Cached images and files.”
5. Click “Clear data.”

The Long Method (for Each Browser)

This is the clickiest method and will show you how to find the cache menu settings the long way.

Google Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome and click on the three-dot icon in the top right corner of the browser window.
2. Click on “More tools” and then “Clear browsing data”.
3. In the “Clear browsing data” window, select the time range for which you want to clear the cache. It’s recommended to select “All time” to ensure that all cached files are cleared.
4. Check the box next to “Cached images and files”.
5. Click on “Clear data”.

Firefox

1. Open Firefox and click on the three-line icon in the top right corner of the browser window.
2. Click on “Library” and then “History”.
3. Click on “Clear Recent History”.
4. In the “Time range to clear” drop-down menu, select “Everything”.
5. Check the box next to “Cache”.
6. Click on “Clear Now”.

Safari

1. Open Safari and click on “Safari” in the top menu bar.
2. Click on “Preferences”.
3. Click on the “Advanced” tab.
4. Check the box next to “Show Develop menu in menu bar”.
5. Close the preferences window.
6. Click on “Develop” in the top menu bar.
7. Click on “Empty Caches”.

Microsoft Edge

1. Open Microsoft Edge and click on the three-dot icon in the top right corner of the browser window.
2. Click on “Settings” and then “Privacy & security”.
3. Under “Clear browsing data”, click on “Choose what to clear”.
4. Check the box next to “Cached data and files”.
5. Click on “Clear”.

How to Clear Your Mobile Device’s Browser Cache

Clearing your mobile browser’s cache may help resolve a variety of issues, including trouble when browsing your library website, signing in, or downloading titles.

Android

Android browser:

1. Open your browser.
2. Android browser: Go to Menu > More > Settings or Menu > Settings > Privacy & Security.
3. Android browser: Tap Clear cache, Clear history, and Clear all cookie data as appropriate.

Chrome browser:

1. Open your browser.
2. Chrome: Go to Menu > Settings > Privacy.
3. Chrome: Tap Clear browsing data at the bottom of the screen, leave the defaults selected (browsing history, cache, and cookies), then tap Clear.

iOS

1. From the home screen, go to Settings > Safari.
2. Toward the bottom of Safari’s settings screen, tap the button for Clear History and Website Data, then tap Clear History and Data to confirm.

Fire tablets (2nd generation Kindle Fires or newer)

1. Tap Silk Browser to open the web browser.
2. Go to Menu > Settings > Privacy.
3. Tap Clear browsing data.
4. Make sure Browsing history, Cache, and Cookies, Site data are selected. Then, tap Clear.

Still Not Working?

If your page is still not reloading correctly after your developer/webmaster made an edit, you will need to go to your web host’s website, log in, and find out where to clear/purge the cache. All web hosts have a different process for doing this so it is best to Google how to do this for your specific hosting company. For example, search for “how to clear my cache on [your host company name goes here].”

If you would rather have someone manage your hosting for you, I can be hired to do this for you at an hourly rate or you can purchase a hosting plan from me and it will be covered under your plan.

I hope this helped! If you have any requests, please let me know.

Take care.