How to hard refresh your browser and clear your cache

While your website is going through development, you may become very familiar with the term “hard refresh your browser and clear your cache.”

Being told to do it and knowing what to do or understanding what you are doing are not the same. Fortunately, it’s all very simple. In this article, we are going to go over why you would need to do this and how you can do it on your computer.

Why would you hard refresh your browser and clear your cache?

While using the internet you may have noticed that when you return to a page that you have visited before, it loads faster. This happens because your browser stored a copy of that website on your computer. It does this to make your browsing experience faster and more enjoyable.

While saving a copy of a website does make your browsing experience faster, it also means that new changes won’t always load. If you have ever had your website go through redevelopment, this situation could be a familiar one. Usually what follows is the developer telling you to “hard refresh your browser and clear your cache.”

This happens a lot because the clients computer has saved a cashed version of the website and will load that instead of the new changes. So what the developers are saying would fix your problem. This process forces your computer to redownload the website and display the new features.

There are very simple commands to do this, but they do vary between browsers and operating systems. So to make make this process super simple, here is the list of commands you can use for each major browser and computer operating system.

How to hard refresh your browser and clear your cache with Google Chrome.

Google Chrome is the most used browser on the market and its good reputation keeps it there. According to W3Counter, 63.8% of internet traffic came from Chrome in October 2020. Thankfully, the process to hard refresh this browser is super simple.

Windows and Linux.
There are two commands that you can use to hard refresh Chrome on a computer that uses Windows or Linux:

1. Hold down Ctrl and click the reload button.
2. Hold down Ctrl and press F5.

Mac OS.
On a Mac pc, there are also two ways to hard refresh your browser, but they require a little more finger gymnastics.

1. Hold down Shift and click the Reload button.
2. Hold down Command, Shift and press R.

How to hard refresh your browser and clear your cache with Safari.

Just for fun, here are the stats. 17.9% of internet traffic came from the Safari browser. As an Apple only browser, there is only one command you need to know:

1. Hold down the option and command key then press E.

How to hard refresh your browser and clear your cache with Internet Explorer.

From this point on, the percentages are all below six. This comes as no surprise since Chrome and Safari are the most popular. Internet Explorer, despite the jokes, was used by 5.6% of people browsing the internet.

In contrast to Safari, no Apple products use Internet explorer. So, we only have to learn the shortcuts for Windows and Linux. In typical fashion for those operating systems, there are two different ways to do it.

1. Hold the Control key and click the Refresh button.
2. Hold the Control key and press F5.

How to hard refresh your browser and clear your cache with Firefox.

To continue with the stats from W3Counter for October 2020, Firefox was used by 4.6% of people browsing the internet. This browser can be used on both Apple and Windows, so they each have their own shortcuts.

Windows and Linux:

1. Hold down Ctrl, Shift and press R.
2. Hold down Ctrl and press F5.

Mac OS:

1. Hold down Shift and press the reload button.
2. Hold down Command, Shift and press R.

Make development on your website easy with Web2Web.

Your website is vital to your online success as a business. So when it comes to development, you need to make sure it’s in the hands of people that understand that.

At Web2Web, we don’t just make the changes required, we minimise downtime and support your website so that it can reach your goals. It’s our highly skilled team and over 10 years of experience that you can put your trust in when it comes to development.

Talk to us today if you want your website to perform its best and boost your business goals.