Browser cache is the temporary storage of files. These files can include various web page elements like images, scripts, stylesheets, and other resources that make up a webpage.
When you visit a website, Firefox may store a copy of these files in its cache to speed up future visits. This way, the browser can quickly retrieve these files from the cache instead of downloading them again from the internet.
An outdated cache on the local machine compared to that on the remote server can cause glitches (displaying an outdated version of a website). Hence, clearing the Firefox browser cache on the local system helps to clear this type of issue.
Clear Cache Using Firefox settings
Click on the Hamburger menu and then click on Settings.
Under Privacy and Security, go to cookies and site data section, select Clear Data.
Now, check only the checkbox corresponding to the cache (Cached Web Content) and click Clear to clear only the cached content.
This will delete the cached images and any other cached web content, for all the websites you had visited earlier.
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Clear cache using history settings
Don't want to clear all the cached data, but for a particular time interval?
Another way to clear cached data according to time range is by using history management.
Click on the hamburger button and navigate to the History settings.
From within that, select Clear Recent History (as shown in the image below).
Here, select the time range as Last hour/Last two hours/Today or Everything. Next, select only the cache option checkbox and click on the Clear Now button.
This will delete the cached data for your chosen time range.
Clear cache using extensions (in single click)
There is a Mozilla Recommended Extension called “Clear Cache”.
Even though it not among the best Firefox add-ons. You can choose to install it to quickly clear the cache.
Once installed, you can clear the cache using the extension icon on the add-on area.
This way, you can instantly clear browsing data in a single mouse click.
Automatic clear Firefox cache on browser exit
To remove cache when Firefox exits, first open settings from the hamburger menu.
Now, in the Privacy and Security tab, go to the history section and select “Use Custom Settings for History” from the drop-down menu corresponding to “Firefox Will” section:
Activate the checkbox “Clear history when Firefox closes” and click on the settings button.
On the settings, select the Cache checkbox and uncheck the not needed checkboxes and press OK.
Technical Bit: Where does Firefox store cache?
If you are curious, on Linux, usually, Mozilla Firefox stores the cached files in ~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/<profile folder>/cache2.
On Ubuntu, where Firefox is a snap app, the cache files are stored at ~/snap/firefox/common/.cache/mozilla/firefox/<profile folder>/cache2
On Windows, you can find it in:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile folder>
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile folder>\cache2You can choose to delete the files manually inside the cache folder, it is just an option.
Did you clear the Firefox cache?
Clearing the browser cache in Firefox helps me see the changes made to any website. Otherwise, the web pages don't show CSS changes as they are cached, and I end up looking at the older version of a web page.
At times, private browsing is an even better option if you don't want the browser to record a specific website visit in your history and store any cache.
I hope you find this quick little tip helpful in clearing the Firefox cache. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
