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How to do a hard refresh in Chrome/Edge, Firefox, and IE?
How to do a hard refresh in Chrome/Edge, Firefox, and IE?
Chuck Horton avatar
Written by Chuck Horton
Updated over 3 years ago

How to do a hard refresh in Chrome/Edge, Firefox, and IE?

Modern browsers are designed to optimize web pages using cache to make surfing experiences as smooth as possible. However, sometimes caching certain elements of a web page can cause the page to work incorrectly. Alternatively, if you are making changes to a page, they won’t be displayed if you simply refresh it. This is where a hard refresh can really come in handy.

A hard refresh is a way of clearing the browser's cache for a specific page to force it to load the most recent version of a page. Having made a hard refresh, you can be sure that you are checking the exact content that is hosted on your server.

Below, you can find various ways of performing a hard refresh in different browsers.

Chrome / Edge Browser


You can use one of the following options to perform a hard refresh on the Windows/Linux Operating System:

1. Hold down Ctrl and click the Reload button.
2. Hold down Ctrl and press F5.
3. Hold down Ctrl + Shift and press R.
4. Open Chrome dev tools by press F12 and right-click the Reload button. Then, click the Hard Reload. See below:

The following solutions can be used for macOS:

1. Hold Shift and click the Reload button.
2. Hold down Command and Shift. Then, press R.

Mozilla Firefox and Related Browsers


Below you can find several options to do a hard refresh with the Windows/Linux Operating System:

1. Hold down Ctrl and press F5.
2. Hold down Ctrl + Shift and press R.

The following solutions can be used for MacOS:

1. Hold Shift and click the Reload button.
2. Hold down Command and Shift. Then, press R.

Internet Explorer Browser


If you use Internet Explorer, these alternatives should be suitable for you.

1. Hold down Ctrl and tap F5.
2. Hold down Ctrl and click the Reload button.

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