How to Clear my Browser's Cache
- Sharon Jennifer Heller
Modern web browsers save a lot of data locally because it helps save time and battery life. Unfortunately, this data may not always be up-to-date, and that can cause problems in web apps like AO Surgery Reference, AO Videos, etc.
This page should help you clear your cache in most common web browsers. If we don't have your browser listed, please reach out, and we will do our best to add it!
Apple Safari
To clear the cache in Apple Safari, you first need to enable the Developer Menu. To do that, go into Safari's preferences (Safari Menu > Preferences) and select the Advanced Tab.
At the bottom of that preference pane is a checkbox to "Show Develop menu in menu bar". Check it.
A new option called Develop will appear in your menu. Click on it and select Empty Caches.
Google Chrome
The option to clear the cache in Google Chrome lives in Chrome's Settings Panel. To open that, click on the hamburger menu in the upper-right-hand corner of the browser and select Settings.
Note: On macOS, you can also select Chrome > Clear Browsing Data... from the menu and skip all the way to the end of this tutorial.
This will open the Privacy and Security settings, at the top of which you will find an option to Clear Browsing Data.
It is in this menu that you will find the option to clear out your cache. Make sure the Advanced tab is selected at the top of the window. For our purposes, you only need to make sure that Cached Images and Files and Hosted App Data are checked. Once those are selected, click on the Clear Data button.
Mozilla Firefox
Clearing the cache in Mozilla's Firefox browser starts by opening the Settings menu. You can do this by clicking on the hamburger menu in the upper-right-hand corner of the browser and selecting Settings.
Note: On macOS, you can also select Firefox > Preferences from the menu.
Once in the Preferences menu, click on Privacy and Security on the left side of the page, and then scroll down to Cookies and Site Data. You'll see a button that says Clear Data. Click it.
This will open the Data Clearing options. Make sure only Cached Web Content is selected, and press Clear.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge has it's cache options in the Settings menu. To access it, click on the three dots in the upper right hand corner of the browser, and scroll down to Settings.
In the Settings menu, look for the Privacy, search, and services menu option on the left side of the screeen. Select it and scroll down until you see the Clear browsing data section. There you will see a Choose what to clear button. Press it
When the Clear browsing data window pops up, make sure you select All Time from the dropdown menu at the top. Then scroll until you see the Cached images and files option. Check it and click on Clear now.