Clearing Your Browser Cache

What is the “Browser Cache”?

The browser cache is a temporary storage space on your hard disk or portable device containing recently visited Web pages and the files associated with them. This cache allows a web browser to quickly render a previously visited page without having to reload the entire page from the Web server.

Why clear the browser cache?

A web page is made up of many different files. Web editors or developers periodically change the content of those files. If your browser has the page cached, it will keep serving up the old content and you will not see the new changes. This is why we ask you to clear your cache.

How to clear the cache in different browsers:

Every browser has a different technique for clearing cache as does each computer operating system (e.g. Macs vs. Windows machines). Sometimes as browser versions change, the technique for clearing a browser’s cache changes as well. Below are methods for the most up-to-date browsers as of January 2021.

It's a good practice to completely clear browser data periodically. To do this you want to be sure all options are checked and choose a time period such as "the beginning of time". If you do not want to lose your download history and/or don't want to have to log back into a site, choose just to clear cached images and files.

Firefox:

Go to “History” in the top menu, then “Clear Recent History”. Uncheck everything but “Cache” then click on “Clear Now”.

Keyboard shortcut: Shift+Command+Delete

More details available on the Firefox site.

This wiki goes into more detail on how to clear your Firefox browser cache.

Chrome:

Mac: Chrome menu > Clear Browsing Data

Windows: Settings (3 vertical dots) > History > History > Clear Browsing Data

Mac keyboard shortcut: Shift+Command+Delete

Windows keyboard shortcut: Shift+Control+Delete

This wiki goes into more detail on how to clear your Google browser cache.

Safari:

Mac: Safari menu > Clear History...

This wiki goes into more detail on how to clear your Safari browser cache.

Internet Explorer:

There are several versions of Internet Explorer and each one has a different location for clearing cache. This wiki goes into more detail on how to clear your browser cache when using Internet Explorer.