Clearing Cache in Firefox

Learn to clear the Firefox cache with this simple screenshot guide. You'll also learn about dedicated extensions and automatic cache clear.
Warp Terminal

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An outdated cache on the local machine compared to that on the remote server can cause glitches (displaying an outdated version of a website).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.

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Clearing the Firefox cache may result in temporary slow page loading as the browser needs to download various web page elements again since the cache is deleted.

Clear Cache Using Firefox settings

Click on the Hamburger menu and then click on Settings.

Click on Settings in Firefox hamburger menu on the top right
Click on Settings

Under Privacy and Security, go to cookies and site data section, select Clear Data.

Click on CLear Data button on the "Cookies and Site Data" settings under the Privacy and Security Tab of Firefox settings
Cookies and Site Data Settings

Now, check only the checkbox corresponding to the cache (Cached Web Content) and click Clear to clear only the cached content.

Clear the vavhed web content by checking the Cache checkbox and clicking clear
Clear the Cached Web 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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If you would rather not clear all the cache on your browser, and want to ignore cache for particular websites, press CTRL + F5 to refresh without cache. One of the available Firefox keyboard shortcuts to improve your web experience.

Suggested Read πŸ“–

15 Useful Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts [With Cheatsheet]
Love Mozilla Firefox browser? Use it more efficiently by using these keyboard shortcuts.

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.

Under the top-right hamburger menu, click on the History button
Click on History

From within that, select Clear Recent History (as shown in the image below).

Inside the history option, select "Clear Recent History" section
Click on Recent History

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.

After selecting the durations "Everything", select the cache check box and click on "clear now" button
Clear Cache of all time

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 β€œClear Cache”.

Even though it not among the best Firefox add-ons. You can choose to install it to quickly clear the cache.

Click on the "Add to Firefox" button to add the Clear Cache extension to your Firefox browser
Clear Cache extension page

Once installed, you can clear the cache using the extension icon on the add-on area.

Click on Clear Cache extension to Clear the browser cache immediately
Click on Clear Cache extension

This way, you can instantly clear browsing data in a single mouse click.

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Pin the extension to the main toolbar to easily access it.

Automatic clear Firefox cache on browser exit

To remove cache when Firefox exits, first open settings from the hamburger menu.

Click on Firefox Settings menu inside the top-right hamburger menu
Click on Settings

Now, in the Privacy and Security tab, go to the history section and select β€œUse Custom Settings for History” from the drop-down menu corresponding to β€œFirefox Will” section:

Under history section in Privacy and Security, select custom settings for history drop down item
Select custom settings for history

Activate the checkbox β€œClear history when Firefox closes” and click on the settings button.

Select the "Clear History when Firefox Closes" checkbox and then click on the adjacent Settings button
Clear History when Firefox Closes checkbox

On the settings, select the Cache checkbox and uncheck the not needed checkboxes and press OK.

Check only the cache checkbox and press OK button to clear cache when firefox closes
Delete only Cache
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Firefox will remember this setting and automatically clear the cache from now on once Firefox is closed.

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.

Firefox Cache location in Fedora displayed in Nautilus File Manager
Firefox Cache location in Fedora

On Ubuntu, where Firefox is a snap app, the cache files are stored at ~/snap/firefox/common/.cache/mozilla/firefox/<profile folder>/cache2

Firefox Snap cache storage location in Ubuntu
Ubuntu Firefox Cache Location

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>\cache2

You 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.

About the author
Sreenath

Sreenath

Linux tinkerer by day, Lord of the Rings fanatic by night. When I'm not busy conquering the command line, you can find me kicking back and watching some football while quoting JRR Tolkien

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