How to force Internet Explorer (IE) to REALLY reload the page

internet explorerinternet-explorer-8web-development

When using Internet Explorer 8 to test my web application I often find it doesn't reload the page, so I don't see my changes. This has resulted in a lot of wasted time and frustration wondering why my fix "didn't work" – when in fact the browser never loaded the fixed version.

I've tried the Refresh button. I've tried F5, Control–F5, Control–R, Control–Shift–R, holding Control while clicking the Refresh button, everything I could think of – it doesn't actually load the new contents from the server. I've confirmed this with Fiddler.

How do I tell IE "I don't care what you think you have cached, I want to reload the page – no really, I mean it this time, honest-to-God, I want you to actually go to the server and download everything again"?

Best Answer

Select Tools >> Internet Options.
Click the Settings button in Browsing History.
Select the Every time I visit the webpage radio button.
Click OK to close the Settings dialog.
Click OK to close the Internet Options dialog.

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Have you checked if IE8 is using compatibility mode on XP (under the page menu) vs. Win7?

Also check what security zone IE8 has put the site in on the WinXP and Win7 PCs.

If there are no clues there, IE8 has a reasonable set of developer tools. Press F12 on the page you are testing to bring them up. From there you can check (and change) the browser mode and document mode IE8 is using by clicking on the options in the menu bar at the top of the developer tools window.

You might also want to test to see if jquery has loaded. To do this, bring up the console (script tab in developer window) and enter:

console.log($.fn.jquery);

You should get something like:

LOG: 1.5.1

where 1.5.1 is the version of jquery you have loaded.

You can test if JQPlot has loaded with:

if($.jqplot) {console.log("JQPlot loaded")} else {console.log("JQPlot not loaded")};

How to disable caching in Internet Explorer 9

To do this, simply press F12 to bring up the Developer view, click the Cache menu, and select Always refresh from server. The next time you load a page in that tab, it will redownload everything every time you navigate.

This setting will not carry over to other tabs or be retained when you close the browser, however.

Best Answer

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