Clearing your Browser Cache

What do you do when you don’t see what your developer sees

Has your developer ever pushed out an update for your website, and you can’t see it on your browser? So you refresh to see the changes, but still, nothing is showing. 

It happened to me recently when Matt, our lead developer, pushed out an update with new styles for custom blocks. I had to go in and apply the new border styling on images and notes.

However, Matt’s updates (new styles) were not showing on my end, even though I could see the changes applied in the Loom video he shared regarding the task. I did not understand what was going on.

Similar instances have happened to some of our clients where we push out updates, and they do not get to see them on their end.

I communicated with Matt and found out the issue was because I had not cleared my browser cache.

In this article, we’ll learn about website cache, how to clear it, and what other steps you can take when you don’t see changes made by a developer. Let’s find out more about it in this post.

1. Clear your Cache

So I cleared the browser cache on my Mac, and my issue was immediately resolved. The cache was caused by files on my Mac that were the old styling versions. Check out how to clear cache on Mac below.

1.1 How to clear Cache on Windows

Clearing your website cache is as easy as a few shortcut keys if you are using a Windows computer.

Shortcut keys to clear cache in different browsers on Windows:

1.2 How to clear Cache on Mac

This is how you clear your browser cache on Mac. The shortcut key commands refresh the browser and clear the cache.

1.3 How to clear cache on mobile devices

If you are using a mobile device, here are the ways to clear your cache.

Android Phone or Tablet

If you have an android device like a phone or tablet, you can also clear the cache and history of your device.

• Open the Chrome Android app.
• Tap on the stacked three dots on the top right for more options.
• Select Settings from the list of options.
• Scroll down and tap on the Site Settings tab.
• Within the Site Settings, open the Data Stored tab.
• Tap on the Site URL that you want to delete, or select “delete all” to clear all cache

iPhone or Ipad

How to clear the cache on your Apple device.

• Open the Settings app. Scroll down to Safari.
• In Safari settings, scroll down and tap “Clear History and Website Data.”
• Tap “Clear History and Data.”

If clearing your browser cache does not work, perhaps clearing your website history can do the trick.

2. Try an Incognito View

You can try hitting the refresh button and selecting the incognito tab if the changes are not displaying.

You can open an Incognito tab in your browser that will ignore your history. Use the following shortcuts to access an incognito tab on your desktop.

If the changes are not shown in the incognito tab, then there is a possibility that the page is cached on a CDN or server level. This will likely need your developer to run a cache clear from your server or WordPress Administrator Screen.

3. Clear your history

Windows

Click the shortcut keys CTRL+Shift+Del to quickly open the “Clear Browser Cache” window. Or, click the three stacked dots on the upper right corner of your screen to open the browser settings.

• Select in the upper dropdown menu which time period you want to delete the cache data. You can select between “last hour”, “last day”, “last week”, “last four weeks”, or “all”. If you want to delete all cache dates, select “all”.
• Check the box on “Images and Files in Cache”.
• Submit your selection by clicking the “Delete Browser data” Button.
• Reload your web page.
• You can also delete cookies and other site data.

Mac

• On your Mac in Safari, click the “History” tab. Click on “Clear History”,
• Choose how far back you want your browsing history cleared in the pop-up menu.
• In Chrome, click the “History” tab. Then, click “Show full history” at the bottom.
• In the window that opens up, choose to delete data via “Chrome history” or “Clear browsing data”.

Mobile device

Here are the steps to clear your browsing history on Safari on an iPhone or iPad.

• Open the Settings app and then navigate to Safari 
• Clear History and Website Data.
• Tap the “Clear History and Data” option to confirm your choice.
• This button will clear all sensitive browsing data, including your cookies and website cache.

Here are the steps to clear your browsing history on an Android phone or tablet.

• On your Android phone or tablet, open the Chrome app.
• At the top right, tap the stacked three dots or More.
• Click History. Clear browsing data.
• Under “Time range”, you can choose to clear a portion of your history by selecting time periods.
• Check the box next to “Browsing history.”
• Uncheck any other data you don’t want to delete.
• Tap Clear data.

If you followed all the steps above and are still not seeing the changes, try the following options.

4. Still not showing? How to write a Support ticket

You have done all the above, and your changes on a web page do not reflect on the front end. Write a support ticket to your developer indicating what happened. It helps to highlight all the details regarding your problem.

How to write a Support Ticket

• Take a screenshot of what you are seeing and attach it to your ticket.
• Always include a URL directly to the page you are looking or seeing the bug.
• In the subject line, indicate the issue you are facing.
• Describe your problem in detail. Tell the developer that you have cleared your website cache and history and tried incognito mode.
• If functional, consider recording a video that highlights the problem.

Conclusion

As noted above, the article highlighted a few tips to consider if you make a change to your site and it still doesn’t show up.

Going through these steps can save you time when troubleshooting. However, if none of these steps works, it’s time to contact the developer and let them know what’s going on.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Cache?

A browser cache is a storage location that collects temporary data to help websites, browsers, and apps load faster. This allows the browser to display a cached version of the webpage on your next visit.

In simpler terms, this is temporary data stored on your device whenever you visit a web page. So, next time you visit the same webpage, some files will be loaded from the data stored on your device (website cache) instead of the web page servers. This makes the web page load faster.