What is a browser cache, anyway?
Your website browser stores copies of websites that you visit. Keeping a local copy makes the pages load faster than if the browser reached out to the server to get the information every time you visit a page.
Most of the time, the browser cache is our friend. It saves time and quickly gets us where we need to be.
Browser cache problems
When a website or page has been recently updated, we sometimes run into problems with the cache. If you work with Merge, you might have encountered this problem when reviewing page updates on a staging server!
We know the page has been updated, but we don’t see the changes. This happens because the page is loading locally from your computer rather than fetching a fresh copy from the server.
To solve the problem, there are a couple of options for the desktop PC or Mac:
Option 1. Clear the entire browser cache through the browser menu: This action empties the files from all the websites you have visited and can include web pages, images, cookies, and browsing history.
Option 2. Perform a hard reset of the site you want to refresh: This action clears only the website you are currently on, preserving the rest of the cache.
We prefer Option 2, the hard reset. It’s quick! With a couple of keystrokes, the site will be refreshed.
How to perform a hard reset on Windows
Chrome
Keyboard: CTRL + F5
Keyboard & mouse: CTRL + Reload button
Firefox
Keyboard: CTRL + Shift + R
Keyboard: CTRL + F5
Internet Explorer / Microsoft Edge
Keyboard: CTRL + F5
Keyboard & mouse: CTRL + Refresh button
How to perform a hard reset on Mac
Safari
Keyboard: option + command + R
Keyboard & mouse: shift + Reload button
Chrome
Keyboard: command + shift + R
Keyboard & mouse: shift + Reload button
Firefox
Keyboard: command + shift + R
Keyboard & mouse: shift + Reload button
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