How to Hard Refresh Any Browser on Mobile and PC the RIGHT way

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Ryan Johnson
tl;dr: You have to access the specific site’s cache information by using a button to the left of the URL in your browser. In most browsers, this should be a little lock icon for “security”.

Microsoft Edge and Chrome:

Explanation

If you’re here, you know you’re looking at a page that has outdated information and you need to refresh the content, but for some reason, it won’t show up for you. This is because browsers will cache (save) information so they don’t have to download it repeatedly when visiting a website multiple times. Unfortunately, this means the website may have new information, but the browser, being the one in control, doesnt’ request it, assuming it knows everything. Narcissism much, browser?

Here’s how to clear the cache THE RIGHT WAY. There is a right way and a wrong way. Most everyone tells you to do this the wrong way. Whenever I talk to technical support personnel, they want me to “clear my browser cache”. Well, you know what? That’s rude. EXTREMELY rude. I’ve pointed out a mistake on your website, and your first thought is to have me clear all of the data for every website I’ve ever visited? I’m logged in to about 200 different websites, at least! I don’t have all day to waste on re-logging, just because you had a hunch! And, on top of that, the “browser cache” theory is almost always wrong, for me. Maybe, perhaps on a global scale, other people do have this problem, but when I run into website problems, this is one of the first things I’ve already considered. By the time a tech support person hears from me, I’ve already tested this, usually. So, in the interest of making tech support nicer to people, I’ve been wanting to post this for a long time–I just didn’t know it. I’ve been giving these same instructions to support people for years, and never considered putting it in my blog, but here we are. Finally, the pieces click together.

Even most websites that tell you how to clear your cache tell you to do some convoluted dive into the browser’s settings, such as this article at https://techwiser.com/hard-refresh-any-browser-mobile-pc/. In Firefox, this works, but it’s inefficient. In Chrome and Microsoft Edge, however, this is straight up wrong. The only option in settings is to clear the entire cache, which will ruin your day.

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