How to Refresh a Page

X

This article is co-authored by a team of editors and trained researchers who confirm the accuracy and completeness of the article.

The wikiHow Content Management team carefully monitors the work of editors to ensure that every article is up to a high standard of quality.

This article has been viewed 2,693 times.

This article will show you how to refresh (refresh) a page in your browser. When refreshed, the page will update to the latest version of the information, and it will also help you fix some site errors, such as the page not loading completely.

Table of Contents

Refresh the page on the computer

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/5/54/Refresh-a-Page-Step-1.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-1. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/5/54/Refresh-a-Page-Step-1.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 1.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:346,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:548,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Open the page you want to refresh. You’ll go to that page’s web address (or click its tag).

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/8/8e/Refresh-a-Page-Step-2.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-2. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/8/8e/Refresh-a-Page-Step-2.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 2.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:346,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:548,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Click the “Refresh” icon

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/3/3a/Android8refresh.png”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/3/3a/ Android8refresh.png/30px-Android8refresh.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:460,”bigWidth”:30,”bigHeight”:30,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output “></div>”}

(Refresh). It’s a circular arrow icon at the top of the browser window, usually in the upper-left corner.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/7/72/Refresh-a-Page-Step-3.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-3. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/7/72/Refresh-a-Page-Step-3.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 3.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:344,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:544,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Use keyboard shortcuts. In most browsers, pressing the F5 key refreshes the current page (for some Windows machines, you may need to hold down the Fn key while pressing the F5 key). If you can’t find the F5 key, you can use some other OS-specific shortcuts:

Windows — Hold down the Ctrl key and press R .
Mac — Hold down the ⌘ Command key and press R .

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/9/9e/Refresh-a-Page-Step-4.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-4. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/9/9e/Refresh-a-Page-Step-4.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 4.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Force web page refresh. Force-refreshing a page clears the cache, allowing you to see the most recent version of the page compared to what the browser has previously stored: ^{[1] X Research Source}

Windows — Press Ctrl + F5 . If the above doesn’t work, hold down the Ctrl key and click the “Refresh” icon.
Mac — Press the ⌘ Command + ⇧ Shift + R key. On the Safari browser, you can also hold down the ⇧ Shift key and click the “Refresh” icon.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/c/cf/Refresh-a-Page-Step-5.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-5. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/c/cf/Refresh-a-Page-Step-5.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 5.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:343,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:543,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Troubleshoot pages not refreshing. If when clicking the “Refresh” icon, using the shortcut to “Refresh” and forcing the page to refresh, the page is unresponsive, your browser may be broken or corrupted. You can fix most browser problems with one of the following (if that doesn’t work, try the next one):

Close and reopen the page.
Exit, then reopen the browser and visit the page again.
Browser update.
Clear cache.
Delete DNS.

Refresh Chrome browser on mobile devices

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/6/6d/Refresh-a-Page-Step-6.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-6. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/6/6d/Refresh-a-Page-Step-6.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 6.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Open

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/c/cd/Android7chrome.png”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/c/cd/ Android7chrome.png/30px-Android7chrome.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:460,”bigWidth”:30,”bigHeight”:30,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output” “></div>”}

Google Chrome. You’ll tap the Chrome app’s icon, which is a red, yellow, green, and blue globe.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/a/a5/Refresh-a-Page-Step-7.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-7. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/a/a5/Refresh-a-Page-Step-7.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 7.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Go to the page you want to refresh. Just like when working on a computer browser, the refresh only affects the page you are viewing.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/7/7f/Refresh-a-Page-Step-8.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-8. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/7/7f/Refresh-a-Page-Step-8.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 8.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Tap . This option is located in the upper right corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will display.

Refresh Firefox browser on mobile devices

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/e/e1/Refresh-a-Page-Step-11.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-11. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/e/e1/Refresh-a-Page-Step-11.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 11.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Open Firefox browser. You’ll tap the browser’s icon, which is an orange fox on a blue background.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/6/6e/Refresh-a-Page-Step-12.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-12. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/6/6e/Refresh-a-Page-Step-12.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 12.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Go to the page you want to refresh. Just like with desktop browsers, mobile refreshes only affect the page you’re viewing.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/c/c1/Refresh-a-Page-Step-13.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-13. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/c/c1/Refresh-a-Page-Step-13.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 13.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Wait for the page to finish loading if necessary. Firefox’s “Refresh” icon will appear only after the page has completely loaded.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/1/11/Refresh-a-Page-Step-14.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-14. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/1/11/Refresh-a-Page-Step-14.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 14.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Tap the “Refresh” icon

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/3/3a/Android8refresh.png”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/3/3a/ Android8refresh.png/30px-Android8refresh.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:460,”bigWidth”:30,”bigHeight”:30,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output “></div>”}

at the bottom of the page. This will refresh the current page.

On Android devices, you must first tap the ⋮ icon in the upper-right corner of the screen, then tap the “Refresh” icon at the top of the drop-down menu to appear.

Refresh mobile Safari browser

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/5/55/Refresh-a-Page-Step-15.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-15. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/5/55/Refresh-a-Page-Step-15.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 15.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Open Safari. You’ll tap the app’s icon, which is a blue compass on a white background.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/b/b3/Refresh-a-Page-Step-16.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step-16. jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/b/b3/Refresh-a-Page-Step-16.jpg/v4-728px-Refresh-a-Page-Step- 16.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”></div> “}

Go to the page you want to refresh. Just like with desktop browsers, mobile refreshes only affect the page you’re viewing.

Advice

Clearing the cache can help fix many common browser errors, including page not refreshing errors. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Warning

Refreshing a page where you’ve already filled out information (for example an account creation form) will usually clear your progress.

Steps