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Hard Refresh and Reload Pages in Firefox on the Computer

Firefox allows users to reload web pages using the reload button and keyboard shortcuts or to perform a hard refresh. It clears the browser cache and reloads the page from the server, ensuring the latest changes to the page.

Hard refreshing a page feature aims to help users troubleshoot issues with web pages that may be caused by cached content.

In this guide, I have shared written instruction about:

Reload a Browser Page

The Mozilla Firefox browser has an in-built reload option command that helps reload the webpage without deleting the cookies and cache data. Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Launch the Firefox browser on the computer.
  2. Open any website for a hard refresh.
  3. Click on the Reload reload arrow icon icon to refresh the current page.
    Firefox Computer Reload Icon

It will reload the page and also remove any temporary errors. But, if you want to delete all the stored cache and remove the cookies, you should perform the Hard Refresh operation.

Hard reload/refresh helps in clearing any major browser and website loading-related issues.

Hard Refresh a Page Content

Here, you can use two easy keyboard shortcuts to delete the stored cache and cookies on the Windows/Linux desktop.

  • Keypress: Ctrl + Shift + R
  • Or keypress: Ctrl + F5 on keyboards.

Windows Keyboard with Hard Refresh keystroke

Just choose whichever shortcut is easy for you to memorize and execute. Running those shortcut commands should do the work for you.

Perform Hard refresh

Firefox for Mac also has two shortcut keys similar to the one in a Windows machine; the only difference is the Ctrl key is replaced by the Command key.

  • Keypress: + Shift + R
  • Or keypress Shift + reload arrow icon command in address bar.

Mac keyboard hard reload

Based on the operating system, you can choose to hard reload the page and download the new files from the web server.

Bottom Line

When browsers store web pages in their cache, loading them becomes faster. This, however, means that you can miss any updates in case changes have been made to the webpage.

The hard refresh also eliminates any temporary errors you encounter on the website. If the page is not loading correctly, the hard reload will help resolve the issues.

Alternatively, you can also manually clear the sites cache and cookies stored in the Firefox browser on a computer and reload the page to complete the hard refresh.

Similarly, you can hard refresh the page in Firefox on Android.

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Kushal Azza

Kushal Azza

Kushal Azza is a Google Certified Analytics & IT Professional, Digital Content Creator, and Go-To Digital Marketer. He has over a decade of experience solving tech problems, troubleshooting, and innovating digital solutions. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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