If you’re running a large website with many visitors, caching can be an important tool to optimize page load times. Find out why caching is essential in this article. When using a WordPress caching plugin, you may find that changes made to your WordPress site from the administration dashboard aren’t immediately shown to users in the site’s front end. In this comprehensive guide & tutorial, you’ll learn the best and most effective methods to clear WordPress website cache step-by-step.
This is because WordPress is still displaying the cached version of your posts and pages. To resolve this issue, you need to “clear” the cache, deleting your pages’ stored, static versions and forcing the WordPress plugin to store refreshed pages that include your updates.
This guide will show you how to clear the cache on two popular WordPress plugins, W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache.
What is Caching?
In the digital world, caching is akin to memorizing. It’s a technique where web browsers and servers remember certain parts of your website, so they can load it more quickly the next time someone visits. While this is great for speed, it can sometimes show outdated information to your visitors to clear WordPress cache following this tutorial.
The Importance of Clearing Cache
Clearing your WordPress cache is like refreshing your website’s memory. It ensures that your visitors see the most recent updates, and it can also help solve loading or formatting issues. Essentially, it keeps your website looking and functioning at its best. In this comprehensive guide & tutorial, you’ll learn the best and most effective methods to clear WordPress website cache step-by-step.
Clean CDN Cache
If you’re using a CDN, the process is the same, with one caveat: it’s better not to purge the entire cache. The process itself will vary depending on your host. One popular CDN is CloudFlare. Some hosts, such as SiteGround, even give you access to the accessible version of Cloudflare with your account.
Finally, find your settings tab within your CDN settings, and find the Settings tab. You will then see a Cache Purge option with a Purge button to the right. Click it, and all of your site’s cached files will begin to purge and regenerate to clear up any issues that might have arisen.
Clear the Cache in W3 Total Cache
Log in to the WordPress dashboard and, in the left sidebar, navigate to Performance > Dashboard. Click Empty all caches at the top of the W3 Total Cache dashboard.
- Log into Your WordPress Dashboard: Start by accessing the admin area of your WordPress website by logging in with your username and password.
- Access W3 Total Cache Settings: On the left-hand sidebar of your dashboard, look for the “Performance” menu item. This is where all the settings for W3 Total Cache are located. Click on it to access the plugin’s settings.
- Clear All Caches: Once you are in the W3 Total Cache settings area, you’ll typically see a section at the top of the page with a button labeled “Empty All Caches.” Click this button to clear all cached content. This action removes all the cached pages, minified CSS and JavaScript, and database objects that the plugin has stored.
- Clear Individual Caches (Optional): If you prefer not to clear all caches, W3 Total Cache also provides options to clear individual cache types. These options can usually be found under the “Performance” menu. For example, you can clear only the page cache, database cache, object cache, or browser cache. This is useful if you know what specific type of cache you want to refresh.
- Verify the Cache is Cleared: After clearing the cache, you can verify it by checking the status messages in the W3 Total Cache dashboard. It should indicate that the cache has been emptied successfully.
- Clear Cache from the Admin Toolbar (Optional): W3 Total Cache also adds a convenient shortcut to the WordPress admin toolbar. If you have this feature enabled, you can clear the cache directly from any page on your site by hovering over the “Performance” button in the top toolbar and selecting the appropriate cache-clearing option.
Clear the Cache in the WP Super Cache
Log in to the WordPress dashboard and, in the left sidebar, navigate to Settings > WP Super Cache. In the WP Super Cache settings page, click Delete Cache.
- Log in to your WordPress Dashboard: Access your site’s backend by entering your username and password.
- Navigate to WP Super Cache Settings: On the left-hand side of your dashboard, hover over “Settings” and then click on “WP Super Cache”. This will take you to the settings page of the WP Super Cache plugin.
- Access the Contents Tab: Once in the WP Super Cache settings, find and click on the “Contents” tab. This tab shows you information about the current cache status on your website.
- Delete Cache: In the Contents tab, you will see a section labeled “Delete Cached Pages”. Here, you will typically find two buttons – “Delete Cache” and “Delete Expired”. Clicking on “Delete Cache” will clear all cached files that are currently being used to serve your website visitors. “Delete Expired” will clear cached files that are outdated and no longer in use.
- Verify Cache Deletion: After clicking “Delete Cache”, you may want to ensure that the cache has been cleared. This can be done by checking the information in the Contents tab again. It should show that the number of cached pages has reduced or is zero.
- Clear Cache on Demand (Optional): WP Super Cache also provides an option to selectively delete cache. If you have made changes to a specific post or page and want to ensure that only the cache for that page is cleared, you can do so by visiting the post or page in the WordPress editor. There, you will find a “Delete Cache” button specific to that page or post.
Clear WP Fastest Cache
All you need to do is go into the main WP Fastest Cache item in the dashboard, click the Delete Cache tab, and see two large blue buttons. One will be labeled Delete Cache, which does precisely that. And the second is Delete Cache and Minified CSS/JS.
If you’re genuinely having issues, getting rid of minified files can help. The plugin regenerates them as it does its thing in the future, like the cache itself.
Moreover, if you need timeout rules, you can set them all right here. Just press the Add New Rule button, and you can set the length of time that your site will wait before loading the page, regardless of other caching settings. In this comprehensive guide & tutorial, you’ll learn the best and most effective methods to clear WordPress website cache step-by-step.
Clear Cache On Your Browser
The clearing of the browser cache is the only thing you can do for your device. If you suspect the cache issue is occurring on a larger scale, skip to one of the options below. If not, start here.
This is an example of how to clear the cache in Chrome. You can clear the cache for your WordPress site from the History or Settings tabs. Once selected, navigate to the “Clear Browsing Data” section. Your browser will display the following pop-up. You can clear browsing data for cached images and files on this screen. This will delete the cache from all websites in your browsing history.
If you want to clear the cache just for your website, return to Settings and go to Content Settings. Next, click on Cookies. Firstly, expand on “See all cookies and site data”. Secondly, search your website. Finally, you can then go through and clear all data.
If you work in another desktop or mobile browser, refer to VisualModo’s quick reference guide on clearing cache in all major browsers. Or, follow this handy guide put together by Indiana University. Keep reading this step-by-step guide to clear cache.
Google Chrome
- Open Chrome and click on the three dots in the upper right corner to open the menu.
- Select More tools > Clear browsing data.
- In the dialog that appears, choose the time range for which you want to clear cached information. To delete everything, select “All time.”
- Check the boxes next to “Cookies and other site data” and “Cached images and files.”
- Click Clear data.
Clear Cache on Mozilla Firefox
- Click on the menu button (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner.
- Select Options.
- Go to the Privacy & Security panel and scroll to the Cookies and Site Data section.
- Click the Clear Data… button.
- Check the box next to “Cached Web Content.”
- Click Clear.
Safari (for Mac)
- Open Safari and click on Safari in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
- Choose Preferences and then the Advanced tab.
- Check the box at the bottom that says “Show Develop menu in menu bar.”
- Now click on Develop in the menu bar and select Empty Caches. Keep reading this step-by-step guide Clear Cache.
Microsoft Edge to Clear Cache
- Click on the three dots in the upper right corner to open the menu.
- Go to Settings.
- Under Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear.
- Check the box next to “Cached data and files.”
- Click Clear.
Internet Explorer
- Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner and choose Internet options.
- Under the General tab, find the section titled “Browsing history.”
- Click Delete….
- Ensure the box for “Temporary Internet files and website files” is checked.
- Click Delete.
Remember, after clearing your cache, some websites may load slower on the first visit, as your browser needs to download fresh content. Also, you might need to sign in again on some websites. I hope that with this comprehensive guide & tutorial, you’ll learn the best and most effective methods to clear the WordPress website cache step-by-step.