How to clear Cache
- Meaghen Spencer (Unlicensed)
You may have heard this before: if a website isn't loading properly, clear your cache.
In this article, we will help you learn about what cache is, why clearing it may fix an issue you are having on a website like DataZone, and a few basic tips on how to clear cache.
What is cache?
Cache is the place where your browser stores images, code, and other files to avoid re-downloading them repeatedly. Your browser would be much slower without this feature, because every site you open would require re-downloading tons of files. The logo, background images, fonts, and a bunch of other technical things like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. The cache stores all of these locally, to save bandwidth and speed up your browsing.
Why does clearing the cache fix things sometimes?
Every once in a while, a site will stop working, and clearing the cache will fix it. It may happen that data on a dashboard seems out of date or is not loading properly. Our support team will recommend that you clear your cache.
Why does this help? To oversimplify, sometimes there's a difference between the version of a website cached (stored) on your computer and the version that you're loading from the web. This conflict can lead to weird glitches, and clearing your cache can help when nothing else seems to.
In the case of DataZone, the backend of the platform (website) gets updated regularly. And if you visit DataZone often and experience a data hiccup, login issue or such, it may be that your computer cached an older version of the site and needs to get refreshed.
Cookies vs. cache: What's the difference?
In most browsers, the options for clearing the cache and clearing cookies are in the same place—but they're not the same thing.
Your cache stores files downloaded directly from the websites you visit—fonts, images, that kind of thing. The files in your cache aren't that different from the files in the cache of someone else who visits the same websites as you.
Cookies are different—they store information about you and the things you've done online. If you browse an online store and add a bunch of things to a shopping list, that's saved using a cookie. Cookies also keep track of which site you're logged in to—which is why, if you clear your cookies, you'll need to log back in to all of your accounts. Clearing your cache doesn't affect any of this.
How to clear cache
In Google Chrome
On your computer, open Chrome.
At the top right, click on the three dots.
Click More tools > Clear browsing data.
At the top, choose a time range. To delete everything, select All time.
Next to "Cookies and other site data" and "Cached images and files," check the boxes.
Click Clear data.
Safari for Mac
Click the Safari menu, then Clear History...
In the Clear field choose All History
Click Clear History.
In other browsers
For other browsers, check out this page on how to clear cache.