Clearing Your Browser History or Cache

What is a cache?

Clearing Google Chrome on a Mac/Apple Computer

Clearing Safari on a Mac/Apple Computer

Clearing Safari on an iPhone

Clearing Google Chrome on an iPhone

WHAT IS A CACHE?

In very general terms, a website is a set of files stored on a host’s server. This server is in an actual location, say for example California. When a person or “user” in, say for example London, looks up that website on their browser (like Google Chrome, or Safari) the browser has to go all the way to, in this case, California, to retrieve the files from that host’s server.

This can take some time, so in order to speed things up, a browser will keep a “copy” of those files for that website on a server that is closer to the user. This way, the next time the user types in that same website address, it doesn’t have to go as far to retrieve the information thus speeding up the process.

These copies that are kept on a nearby server are called a “cache” (pronounced “cash”). Now if I make changes to the original website the new changes are made only on the files on the original server (in our example the server in California). So even though I have updated the website the “cache” or copies of the site that are stored near London won’t be updated because they’re merely copies of the original files.

To force your browser to go get new copies you need to clear the old ones out; this is called “clearing your history” or “clearing your cache”. Once you clear your cache and you then type in the website URL the browser looks for those copies it stored; if the copies are not there it then must go back to the original server to get new copies which now include the updated changes.

In addition, the browser you use (like Safari or Chrome) also keeps a log, or a history, of all the websites you visit. This is why when you click on the “Back” arrow it takes you to the last page you were looking at. When you follow the instructions below you are clearing not only the cache as described above but you are clearing your history on your browser of where you’ve been. See the note in #7 below.

Clearing Google Chrome on a Mac/Apple Computer

1. Open your Google Chrome browser
2. At the very top of your screen next to where you usually find “File” and “Edit”, look for “History”
3. Click on “History”
4. Then click on “Show full History” (mine is the last option)
   In the new window that pops up, you will see a list of all the web pages you’ve visited starting with the most recent and working back. If you only want to clear the cache for a specific website type that website into the search field at the top of the page. This will filter out only web pages that include that text. If you do not filter out anything specific your entire cache will be deleted.
   NOTE: if you clear your entire cache, keep in mind that any website you have logged into that you have set to “Remember your password” will log you out once you clear your history so you will have to log back in
5. Once you have made your selection, click on “Clear Browsing Data” on the left side of your screen.
6. A pop up window appears that says, “Clear browsing data” at the top
7. This window defaults to the “Basic” tab. In this tab you can choose how much history you want to clear in the “Time Range” drop down menu. The default is set to “All Time” but you can also choose from:
   a. Last hour
   b. Last 24 hours
   c. Last 7 days
   d. Last 4 weeks
8. Below that you will see three items checked:
   a. Browsing History
   b. Cookies and other site data
   c. Cached images and files
9. Keep them all checked and click on “Clear Data” in the bottom right of the window.
10. That’s it! Your history is now cleared.
11. Navigate back to the site you were looking at and you will see all the new updates.

Clearing Safari on a Mac/Apple Computer

In Google, clearing your browser data as described in the steps above clears both your cache and your history. In Safari, this is in two different places. First, we’ll clear your browser history, or the log of places you have visited.

Option One: Clearing Everything

If you have never cleared your browser history before this might be the way to go but keep in mind that any website you have logged into that you have set to “Remember your password” will log you out once you clear your history so you will have to log back in with the correct username and password.

1. Open your Safari browser.
2. At the very top of your screen next to where you usually find “File” and “Edit”, look for “History”
3. Click on “History”
4. Then click on “Show all History” (mine is the first option)
5. In the new window that pops up you will see a list of all the websites you’ve visited.
6. On the top right side of your screen click on “Clear History”
7. A pop up window appears, and you have the option to clear:
   • The last hour
   • Today
   • Today and yesterday
   • All history
8. Make your choice then click on clear history

Option Two: Clearing a Specific Site

If you have set many websites to “remember your login information” and you don’t want to have to log back in because you’ve cleared all of your history, you can look for specific websites.

1. Follow steps 1-5 above
2. On the top right side of your screen you will see a Search field to the right of the “Clear History” button.
3. Enter the website you are trying to clear.
4. Once you start typing the browser will start to filter out what your typing in. For example, if you wanted to clear only the cache for our website you could type in all or part of the website your are trying to clear. For example, if you are clearning https://youruniquewebsite.com you can type in a portion of the text like, “unique” or the a larger part to help filter out more options like, “youruniquewebsite. It will list all the sites that match that text.”
5. Once you’ve filtered out your choice, click on the first listing.
6. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
7. Hold the shift key down while you click on the last entry.
8. This will highlight all the entries in blue.
9. Now click the “Delete” or “Backspace” button on your keyboard.
10. Your browser history in Safari is now cleared. You will see that all of the listing have disappeared. If you now delete the text you entered in the search field the rest of your history will show.

Clearning the Cache (those stored files we talked about)

1. Open your Safari browser (if not already open)
2. At the very top of your screen next to where you usually find “File” and “Edit”, look for “Develop”
3. Click on “Empty Caches”
4. Nothing on your screen will change but your caches are now cleared.

That’s it! You’re done, pretty easy, huh?

Clearing Safari (on an iPhone)

1. Open your Safari app (it looks like a blue compass and you use it to search the web)
2. First, close all the open windows:
   • Choose the icon at the bottom right of the screen that looks like two overlapping squares.
   • All your open windows will appear. In the upper right corner of each window is an “X”.
   • Click on this “X” and that specific window will close. If you have never done this, you will likely have many windows open. That’s ok, just take your time and work your way through it.
3. Now that all of your open windows are closed let’s clear your browser history.On the bottom of the screen look for the icon that looks like a bookIf you do not see that icon simply scroll up to the top of the page and the icons will appear at the bottom of the screen.There are three icons at the top of the screen:
   • Icon #1 – a book: this shows your favorite websites
   • Icon #2 – a pair of glasses: This shows all the websites you’ve set to read later
   • Icon #3 – a clock: This shows the history, or log of every website you’ve visited on that device.
4. Click (or tap with your finger) on #3, the clock.
5. At the bottom of the screen click/tap on “Clear”In the window that pops up you have 4 options:
   • The last hour
   • Today
   • Today and yesterday
   • All timeClick/tap on your choiceNow click “Done” in the upper right corner of the screen and you’re all finished.

Clearing Google Chrome on an iPhone

1. Open Google Chrome on your phone
2. On the bottom of the screen look for the 3 dot icon
3. If you do not see the icons simple scroll to the top fo the pag and the icons will appear at the bottom of the screen
4. A menu pops up
5. Find History (mine is 7th option)
6. You have two options:
   • Type a website in the search field at the top of the screen
     • Click/tap search
     • Click clear browsing data on the bottom left
     • Choose your time range
     • Leave everything set at it’s default and click “Clear Browsing Data” at the bottom of the screen
     • Confirm your choice by clicking on “Clear Browsing Data” in the new pop up window
     • Click Done in the upper right corner
   • Enter nothing in the search box and clear all of your history
     • Click “Clear Browsing Data” at the bottom left of your screen
     • Choose your time range
     • Leave everything set at its default and click “Clear Browsing Data” at the bottom of the screen
     • Confirm your choice by clicking on “Clear Browsing Data” in the new pop up window
     • Click Done in the upper right corner

That’s it! Your history is cleared. Navigate to the website to see all revisions.