Clear Your Browser's Cache and Cookies

Overview

The page explains how to clear the cache and cookies in your web browser, with step-by-step instructions for Chrome / ChromeOS, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Firefox.

The instructions for your specific operating system are found below:

• Chrome / ChromeOS
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari
• Firefox

What are cache and cookies?

Cache consists of files (i.e., HTML, images, multimedia, etc.) from a webpage that are stored locally on your computer to allow your browser to display that webpage more quickly the next time you visit it.

• It is much faster to load and display a website using cached data for components that do not change (such as headers or themes) than to connect to the remote server and retrieve the full webpage. 

A cookie is a small file that your web browser downloads from a website.

• It contains information that the website uses to customize your visit.
• Cookies are able to track your online behaviors as you navigate through a site, such as which pages you visit, when you enter a site, when you leave a site, username and password information, etc.
• Most of the time, cookies are used to record your website viewing preferences and are useful for staying logged in to websites, saving shopping carts, etc.

Why clear your cache and cookies?

1. Sometimes a browser cache will display an outdated page.
2. Sometimes you can simply refresh your browser and it will show you the most recent page. However, problems will begin to occur when your browser doesn't refresh to the most recent webpage.

In that case, it's time to clear your cache and cookies.

Google Chrome / ChromeOS

There are three methods to clear your cache and cookies:

Method 1: Keyboard Shortcut

1. Press ⌘ + Shift + Delete for macOS or Ctrl + Shift + Delete for Windows to open directly to the Clear browsing data.
2. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
   • Consider the last time you visited a website that is giving you trouble and adjust the time frame accordingly.
   • Note: This will affect cookies stored from all other sites as well.
3. Click the Clear data button to save the changes.

Method 2: Navigate Manually

1. Open the menu by clicking on the ⋮ (column of three dots) icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Settings from the menu.
3. Click Privacy and Security.
4. Under Privacy and security click on Clear browsing data. 
5. Check Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
   • Consider the last time you visited a website that is giving you trouble and adjust the time frame accordingly. 
   • Note: This will affect cookies stored from all other sites as well.
6. Click Clear data to save the changes.

Method 3: Specify URL

1. Copy and paste chrome://settings/clearBrowserData into the address bar to open directly to the Clear browsing data settings.
2. Check Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
   • Consider the last time you visited a website that is giving you trouble and adjust the time frame accordingly. 
   • Note: This will affect cookies stored from all other sites as well.
3. Click Clear data to save your changes.

Microsoft Edge

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Open the menu ⋯ (menu icon).
3. Click Settings.
4. Select Privacy, search, and services from the left-hand column.
5. You may need to expand this menu by clicking the menu icon ≡ (three stacked lines) icon to view these options.
6. Under Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear to customize the data you want to delete.
   • Consider the last time you visited a website that is giving you trouble and adjust the time frame accordingly. 
   • Note: This will affect cookies stored from all other sites as well.
7. Press Clear now to save your changes.

Safari

There are three methods to clear your cache and cookies:

Method 1: Clear Browsing History

1. Open Safari.
2. Click Safari from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
3. Select Clear History...
4. Customize how far back you want the data to be deleted and press Clear History to confirm.
   • Note: This will delete all website data including cookies, caches, and saved passwords.

Method 2: Manage Website Data

1. Open Safari.
2. Click Safari from the menu bar at the top of the screen. 
3. Select Preferences.
4. Click the Privacy tab.
5. Click Manage Website Data.
6. Choose from the list which websites you want to delete cookies and/or cache from by clicking on them and pressing Remove.
7. If you would like to remove all stored website data click Remove All.
8. Press Done when finished.

Method 3: Developer 

1. Open Safari.
2. Click Safari from the menu bar at the top of the screen. 
3. Select Preferences.
4. Click the Advanced tab.
5. Check Show Develop menu in menu bar.
6. Click Develop from the menu bar.
7. Select Empty Caches from the menu.

Firefox

There are two methods to clear your cache and cookies:

Method 1: Keyboard Shortcut

1. Press ⌘ + Shift + Delete for macOS or Ctrl + Shift + Delete for Windows to open the Clear Recent History settings.
2. Check Cookies and Cache.
3. Click OK to save your changes.

Method 2: Navigate Manually

1. Open the menu ≡ (menu icon).
2. Click Settings from the menu.
3. Click Privacy and Security.
4. Under Cookies and Site Data, click Clear Data...
5. Click Clear to save your changes.