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Forced refresh (CTRL F5) doesn't show the changes I make when I am updating a web site I manage

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  • Last reply by SueMillard

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I look after several web sites using XHTML & CSS. I test in Firefox 26.0 and IE 10. I'm running on Windows 8.

Firefox doesn't refresh a newly updated page using F5 or CTRL F5 - it persistently shows the cached copy. (IE 10, however, confirms I've done the job right.)

Is there a function I've missed in Firefox, or is there some HTML I can put into the head of a page specifically to force this browser to display the newest content?

I look after several web sites using XHTML & CSS. I test in Firefox 26.0 and IE 10. I'm running on Windows 8. Firefox doesn't refresh a newly updated page using F5 or CTRL F5 - it persistently shows the cached copy. (IE 10, however, confirms I've done the job right.) Is there a function I've missed in Firefox, or is there some HTML I can put into the head of a page specifically to force this browser to display the newest content?

All Replies (3)

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I usually use Ctrl+Shift+r to reload bypassing the cache, but Ctrl+F5 also should do it.


Could you check your browser.cache.* preferences for anything unusual?

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box that appears above the list, type or paste cache and pause while the list is filtered

In particular:


Does Firefox connect the same way as IE? You can check the setting here:

orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced > Network mini-tab > "Settings" button

The default setting of "Use system proxy settings" should use the same LAN setting as IE, but you might also test "No proxy" to see whether that makes any difference.

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Firefox is using default proxy settings. I haven't yet tested with the "no proxy" setting.

The browser.cache.check_doc_frequency is set at 3 - should I reduce that to 1 or 0?

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currently this problem seems to be sorted, without having altered any settings. Possibly associated with the host for the site I'm working on having just moved the site to another server. Thanks for the advice, though.