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How to Clear Cache after making Changes on your Website

Changes on a website only take effect once you’ve cleared your Browser’s Cache. Let’s learn how to clear cache after making changes to a WordPress website.

In case of making site changes, designing your pages with a page builder, or migrating your site from one host to another – you’ll need to clear your browser’s cache.

In this resource, you’ll learn how to clear your site’s cache with manual routines and WordPress plugins – after making changes to your website.

There are several ways to clear browsers’ cache in WordPress. However, we will focus on the browsers’ native features and others – such as WordPress plugins.

What is a Browser’s Cache?

The collection of files, which contains downloaded server’s resources – used to load a site’s pages faster, refers to the browser’s cache; and includes images, source code, textual content, and configuration files.

A browser cache represents a hand-shake between a system and a web server. The whole purpose of browsers’ cache is to load sites’ pages faster on the client side.

Why do we need to clear Browser Cache?

Changes take effect after clearing the Browser cache

As described above, after we’ve made changes to a site – we need to clear our browser’s cache. If we don’t remove the cache, the browser may load pages with previous settings stored on the server.

Regeneration of CSS files

Sometimes, clearing the browser’s cache regenerates CSS styles. For example, changing dynamic CSS generation in Divi Builder triggers the regeneration of CSS styles. In this case, when a CSS style is regenerated, new changes on a WordPress site take place.

Disk space

If you don’t clear the browser cache occasionally, it may take up excessive space on the hard disk. To keep disk space under control, you must remove the browser cache regularly.

Availability of new features on a Website

Your favorite sites may hide new features if running with a previous version of the cache. Here, you need to clear your browser cache and ask for the latest information from the server.

How to clear Browsing Cache?

Note: Depending on your browser’s version, specific options may differ from what is shown in this article. However, the basic flow of actions is similar in most cases.

Clear cache after making changes

Let’s learn how to clear cache in major web browsers – including Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Apple Safari, and UC Browser.

Google Chrome

Clearing the cache in Chrome is easy. All you’ve to do is – press CTRL+H to load Chrome’s History and click on Clear browsing data – as shown in the screenshot below.

clear cache after making changes

You can also load the page by clicking on the dots at the top right corner. Then, choose More Tools -> Clear browsing data.

The next screen shows a dialogue box where you can choose what to clear. Select appropriate options as required and click on Clear Data at the end – as shown in the screenshot below.

clear cache after making changes

Firefox

At the top right corner of Mozilla Firefox, click History -> Clear recent history from the menu – as shown in the screenshot below.

clear cache after making changes

The next page shows a box similar to Chrome. You can choose different options and click OK at the end.

clear cache after making changes

Opera

The process of clearing the cache in Opera is similar to Google Chrome. The menu at the top left corner shows the History option in Opera.

Proceed and click on Opera Menu -> History -> Clear browsing data. You can also use the said option by pressing CTRL+H and clicking the Clear browsing data button – as shown in the screenshot below.

clear cache after making changes

The next page shows a box that holds different options. Select various options, and proceed to click on Clear data.

Microsoft Edge

Once you’ve opened Microsoft Edge, go to the Edge’s Settings page.

The Privacy, Search, and Services option on the Settings page provides a relevant option to clear your Edge’s cache – as shown in the screenshot below.

clear cache after making changes

Click the Choose what to clear button and choose options on the box shown. Finally, you’re clear to click on the Clear now button at the end.

clear cache after making changes

Brave

Open your Brave browser and go to its Settings page.

The Settings page provides lots of options about different features of the Brave browser. At the top, you can search for “cache” and locate the appropriate option to clear your browser’s cache.

clear cache after making changes

Next, click on the option that says “Clear browsing data”. In the box shown on the screen, choose the appropriate options and click on Clear data at the end.

Apple Safari

In Safari’s interface, click on Safari at the top bar and choose Preferences from the menu.

The next page shows different Tabs – click on the Advanced tab.

clear cache after making changes

On the advanced page, you need to turn on the option “Show Desktop menu in the menu bar.” You can now return to the main interface.

Next, proceed to click on Develop and choose Empty Cache from the menu – as shown in the screenshot below.

clear cache after making changes

Next, click History -> Clear History on the top menu bar and follow the on-screen options to clear your browser cache in Apple Safari.

If you’re using the latest version of Safari, instead of the Advanced tab, you can choose the Privacy tab. Here, you can find the button that says “Manage website data” – helping you clear your browser’s cache and history. Next, double-check the options on the History -> Clear History page.

UC Browser

UC Browser is no different when it comes to clearing the browsing cache.

Press CTRL+H to load the UC’s history page. Once loaded, you can see the following page on the screen.

clear cache after making changes

Proceed and click the Clear browsing data button, as shown in the screenshot above. Like Google Chrome, the next page shows a dialogue box.

As shown in the screenshot below, select the appropriate options and click on the Clear browsing data at the end.

clear cache after making changes

You can also choose and set the option “Clear browser data on exit”. This option helps you clear cache automatically when you close the browser window.

Professional Tips

If you don’t see changes after you’ve removed your browser’s cache, make sure you’ve cleared the cache on the server – too. To proceed, ask your hosting or site support representative’s assistance for support.

The dialogue box that shows different options to clear the cache includes separate settings for each category – such as history, cache, and images. Here, you can choose the required options to proceed if you don’t prefer wiping out everything from your browser.

In WordPress, cache plugins like WP Rocket also allow clearing the system cache. According to what you’re using on your WordPress website, proceed with a relevant option to clear the cache.

Conclusion

Clearing a browser’s cache doesn’t require technical routines for beginners. By using a browser’s native features – clearing the cache is a matter of minutes.

In this article, you learned – how to clear the cache for major web browsers, including Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and others.

Unless you need to use a specific routine to clear cache, such as a WordPress plugin or assistance from hosting, use your browser’s native options for the said purpose.

For more information on clearing cache, WordPress site support plans, or custom requirements, let us know to sort out issues that are affecting your site’s performance.

Image credit: Rohane Hamilton / Shutterstock.com

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