One of our readers recently asked us, how to clear cache files in WordPress?
Well, caching plugins, your web browser, and the hosting server can all serve cached content to your website, which can prevent you from viewing your new changes as quickly as you would like.
The first thing you should do when having trouble with WordPress is clear the cache.
The following article will explain how to properly clear the WordPress cache.
In this guide, we will discuss how to use browser cache, web hosting cache, and the best WordPress caching plugins to clear the cache files in WordPress easily.
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There are times when the cache will not recognize that your WordPress website has changed. As a result, your site will load the old version rather than the new one.
Then, neither you nor your visitors will be able to see any updates you’ve made.
However, by clearing the WordPress cache, you ensure that the most recent version of your website is always available.
Here are the four ways how you can clear cache files in WordPress.
The first thing you need to do is clear your web browser’s cache. Browsers typically cache static website content such as stylesheets, JavaScript, and images to improve loading times.
However, sometimes a web browser will fail to notice a change. As opposed to fetching a fresh copy, your browser will load a cached version of the page instead of fetching a fresh copy.
Now, select More Tools > Clear Browsing Data from the menu in Google Chrome to clear your browser cache.
This will bring up a pop-up window, allowing you to select which content should be removed from the cache.
From here, click the ‘Clear browsing data‘ button after checking the ‘Cache images and files‘ box.
Well, the browser cache has been cleared now. To check if the new version of your WordPress site is loading, visit your WordPress blog.
If still, you can’t see the changes in your site that you’ve made, then keep reading the other ways below.
A few WordPress hosting providers include caching options that help speed up WordPress.
Check out these steps to clear the web host cache on some of the most popular WordPress hosts.
It’s officially recommended by WordPress and is among the best WordPress hosting providers.
Using their built-in caching solution, you will see a significant improvement in the speed and performance of your WordPress site.
With Bluehost, you can easily clear the WordPress cache directly from the WordPress admin panel.
Once you log into your WordPress admin dashboard, you’ll find the ‘Caching‘ option in the top toolbar. If you want to purge all, hover over it and click the ‘Purge All‘ button.
That will make Bluehost clear the cache for your WordPress website.
WordPress hosting provider WP Engine is among the best. Users do not have to install a caching plugin because they have their own built-in caching solution.
However, you can clear the WP Engine cache from your WordPress dashboard if you made changes to your site but they didn’t appear.
To clear all caches, click the ‘WP Engine’ menu item in your WordPress admin bar. After that, choose the ‘Caching’ menu option from the dropdown list.
When you click this, all the caches on your WordPress site are automatically cleared.
In case you have a WordPress caching plugin installed on your site, you will need to clear its cache.
Here are some of the most popular WordPress caching plugins you can use to clear your cache.
One of the most popular caching plugins for WordPress is W3 Total Cache. All caches can be cleared with a single click, just like the other plugins above.
To empty all caches, you must go to Performance > Dashboard.
All cached content is now deleted when you install W3 Total Cache.
Another popular caching plugin for WordPress is WP Super Cache. Using this plugin, you can clear or purge all cache files from your WordPress with one 1-click on your mouse.
To do so, log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Settings > WP Super Cache. Now, click the ‘Delete Cache‘ button from the section called ‘Delete Cached Pages‘.
Well, now you’ll notice that the WP Super Cache plugin deletes all your cache files from your WordPress website.
Last but not least, WP Rocket is another popular caching plugin for WordPress in the market. While using the WP Rocket plugin you’ll have an amazing feature of it.
That is, it builds WordPress cache proactively in the background. As a result, a cached version is always served to your users.
On top of this, clearing cache files is super easy with this plugin. Within a single click, you can clear things up.
Having that said, go to the plugin dashboard from the WordPress admin panel. After that navigate to Settings > WP Rocket, and click on the ‘Clear Cache‘.
Now, all of your cache files will be removed by WP Rocket.
Many users tend to use a WordPress firewall (e.g. Sucuri) to protect their WordPress site. Then, you need to clear an extra layer of caching along with browser and plugin caches.
To clear Sucuri cache, you need to log in to your WordPress admin panel and navigate to Sucuri > Firewall (WAF).
Once you’re in, select the ‘Clear Cache‘ menu option, and click the ‘Clear Cache‘ button eventually.
We hope this article helped you learn how to clear cache files in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on 13+ signs that your WordPress site is hacked and how you can fix them, and our expert picks of the best responsive WordPress themes you can count on in 2022.
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