Force Purge after update

Hello @terry777

Thank you for your inquiry and I am happy to assist you with this.
Can you please share what kind of changes are you making on the website. Are those just simple Post/pages updates or you are changing some CSS/JS?
If the case is that you update the page/post, once updated, the cache should be cleared. This is being handled by the option Performance>Page Cache>Purge Policy where you can specify when and what should be purged after the content is updated.
Once the page is purged, it needs to be reloaded, sometimes hard reload is needed so it can fetch a new page and create a cached page which will be used then for all other devices.
Purge Modules>Page Cache: All – This purges all cached pages.
Purge Modules>Page Cache: current page – this option purges the cache for only the page you are currently on leaving other pages cached.
I hope this helps!
Thanks!

Hi @vmarko, Thanks for the prompt reply!

I am using the Divi Theme, and right now I’m using the Divi Builder to modify some pages. But I’ve had the same issue on other sites, with other themes.

What do you mean to reload vs hard reload? I use the circular arrow next to the address box to reload.

So, when I Purge Modules > Page Cache: All, this purges not just for me but for all users?

So, what I usually do, is after I update the page, saving the changes, I hit the Performance > Purge Current page, or Performance > Purge Modules > Page Cache, (are these equivalent?), then I go to another tab in my browser where I have the page displayed and hit the reload button. On my desktop computer, it shows the updated version, but when I check other devices, and reload the page, no change.

Hello @terry777

When you edit the theme CSS files for example (Styling), and if the CSS file name is not changed the browser will still think that it’s the same CSS file and it will not show changes unless you are logged in. This is because of the Browser Cache settings and the fact that the file is being cached in the browser. So for example, if you enabled the Cache-control – 1 year the file will be cached in the browser for one year. When the file is changed and the name of the file is still the same, the browser checks the file and as it can see that the file is the same it will serve the same cached file.
In this case, you can use the option ” Prevent caching of objects after settings change ” in Performance>Browser Cache>CSS&JS which will add the random query string which you can update every time you make any changes to CSS or JS. something like ?xNNNNN
This will ensure that every time the file is updated and you Update media query string, the latest file is being fetched by the browser and served to the visitors.
I hope this helps!
Thanks!

I’m not directly editing the css in this case, but I’m using the Divi Visual Builder, and I don’t know what gets updated when I change a setting on an object.

It’s weird to me that caching wasn’t developed to recognize when a file’s last modified date changed, rather than the name of the file. Admittedly, I know as little about caching as I can get away with.

When you say “which you can update every time you make any changes to CSS or JS” do you mean that I would have to go in and change the query string each time, or that the plugin does that for me, because that would be ridiculous when I’m making changes then checking them, and repeating that process numerous times.

I tried it, and it doesn’t seem to help. When I make a change using my desktop, then check the change on my tablet, I must be able to see the changes immediately after refresh. Sometimes I’m working with a client and need to show them the changes as I make them. If the caching prevents that, it’s frustrating and embarrassing, to say the least.

You didn’t tell me the difference between reload and hard reload.