Skip to content

Developers · Best Practices

Performing a Hard Refresh on your Browser

Last updated 10 November 2026

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. Sometimes, when changes are made to the website, they don’t register immediately due to caching. A hard refresh will usually fix this, though occasionally, completely clearing the cache is necessary.

How to do a hard refresh on various browsers? This guide discusses hard refresh on these particular browsers:

  • Chrome
  • Mozilla Firefox and related browsers
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Safari

Chrome

A quick, hard refresh can be done by using the following shortcut keys on machines using the following operating systems:

  • Windows/Linux
  • Mac

Windows/Linux

Use the following methods to perform a hard refresh on a Chrome browser installed on a Windows/Linux machine:

  1. Hold down and click the button.
    2. Ctrl plus Reload button keyboard shortcut
  2. Or, Hold down and press .
    3. Ctrl plus F5 keyboard shortcut
  3. Or, Open the Chrome Dev Tools by pressing . Once the Chrome dev tools are open, right-click the refresh button, and choose an option on the dropdown menu. This menu allows you to do a hard refresh or even clear the cache and do a hard refresh automatically.
    4. F12 key to open Chrome DevTools

Mac

Use the following methods to perform a hard refresh on a Chrome browser installed in a machine using a Mac OS:

  1. Hold and click the button.
    2. Shift plus Reload button keyboard shortcut
  2. Or, hold down and key and then press .
    3. Cmd plus Shift plus R keyboard shortcut
  3. Or, Open the Chrome Dev Tools by pressing and together. Once the Chrome dev tools are open, right-click the refresh button, and choose an option from the dropdown menu. This menu gives you the option of doing a hard refresh or clearing the cache and doing a hard refresh automatically.
    4. F12 key to open Chrome DevTools

Mozilla Firefox and related browsers

A hard refresh can be done by using the following shortcut keys on machines using the following operating systems:

  • Windows/Linux
  • Mac

Windows/Linux

Use the following methods to perform a hard refresh on a Mozilla (or other related) browser installed in a Windows/Linux machine:

  1. Hold the key and press the key.
    2. Ctrl plus F5 keyboard shortcut
  2. Or, hold down and and then press .
    3. Ctrl plus Shift plus R keyboard shortcut

Mac

Use the following methods to perform a hard refresh on a Mozilla (or other related) browser installed in a Mac OS machine:

  1. Hold down the and click the button.
    2. Shift plus Reload button keyboard shortcut
  2. Or, hold down and and then press .
    3. Cmd plus Shift plus R keyboard shortcut

Microsoft Edge

Use the following methods to perform a hard refresh on a Microsoft Edge browser installed in a Windows/Linux machine:

  1. Hold the key and press the key.
    2. Ctrl plus F5 keyboard shortcut
  2. Or, hold the key and click the button.
    3. Ctrl plus Reload button keyboard shortcut

Safari

Quick hard refresh can be done by using the following shortcut keys in Mac OS:

  1. Hold the and key and then press the key.
    2. Option plus Cmd plus E keyboard shortcut for Safari