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How to do a hard refresh in your browser

Eric from Authory avatar
Written by Eric from Authory
Updated over 4 months ago

What is a “Hard Refresh”

A hard refresh forces the browser to re-download all files from the server rather than using its local cache. This is useful when recent changes (styles, scripts, images) are not showing up because an older version is still cached.


How to Hard Refresh in Major Browsers

Below are step-by-step instructions for various browsers on desktop and mobile.

Browser / Platform

Steps to Hard Refresh / Force Reload

Google Chrome (Windows / Linux)

1. Open the page you want to refresh.
2. Press Ctrl + F5.
3. If that doesn’t work, try Ctrl + Shift + R.

Google Chrome (macOS)

1. Open the page.
2. Press Command (⌘) + Shift + R.

Mozilla Firefox (Windows / Linux)

1. Open the page.
2. Press Ctrl + F5.
3. Alternately Ctrl + Shift + R works.

Mozilla Firefox (macOS)

1. With the page open.
2. Press ⌘ Command + Shift + R.

Microsoft Edge (Windows / macOS)

- On Windows: Try Ctrl + F5 or Ctrl + Shift + R.
- On macOS: Use ⌘ Command + Shift + R.

Safari (macOS)

1. Open Safari.
2. Hold Option (⌥) and click View → Reload Page From Origin in the menu bar.
3. Or press ⌥ Option + ⌘ Command + R.
4. (Alternatively: in Develop menu, use “Empty Caches” then reload).

Opera

1. With the page open.
2. Press Ctrl + F5 or Shift + F5 on Windows/Linux.
3. On macOS, likely ⌘ + Shift + R (depending on version).

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