How to Do a Hard Refresh
A hard refresh makes your browser load the latest version of a page instead of a cached copy — the key combinations for Windows and Mac, and when to use it.
Overview
Sometimes your browser does not show everything you expect to see in Brolly — a newly connected account, an invited team member, or a menu item you know should be there. This is usually caching: browsers remember (cache) a previous version of a page and show it to you instead of fetching the latest one. It is normal browser behaviour, whether the cache settings come from your IT team or the browser's defaults.
The fix is a hard refresh, which tells the browser to ignore its cached copy and load the page fresh. Before you do it, save or copy anything you have typed and not yet saved — a note, a tag name, a half-filled form — because a reload discards unsaved input.
The Key Combinations
- Windows (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) — hold Ctrl and press F5, or hold Ctrl + Shift and press R
- Mac (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) — hold Cmd + Shift and press R
- Mac (Safari) — hold Option and click the reload button in the address bar, which reloads without the cache. Safari's Empty Caches command (Option + Cmd + E) clears the cache for every site and only appears once the Develop menu is enabled in Safari's settings, so use it only if the Option-reload does not help
That is it — the page reloads from the server rather than from the cache. Records, settings and your sign-in are stored by Brolly, not in the cache, so they are unaffected; a session can still expire on its own, in which case you simply sign in again.
When to Reach for It
A hard refresh is a good first step whenever Brolly looks out of date:
- You have connected an account or made a settings change and it is not showing yet
- You cannot see Settings even though your role should include it
- Someone else has signed in to Brolly on the same computer and the screen seems to reflect their session rather than yours
- A page shows an error after a Brolly release, or a button does nothing when clicked
If It Does Not Help
A hard refresh only bypasses the cache for the page you reload; it does not clear the browser's stored data. If the problem persists:
- Click your name in the sidebar footer, choose Log out, close the browser entirely and sign back in
- Or open a private window (Incognito in Chrome, Private Browsing in Firefox and Safari, InPrivate in Edge) and sign in there
Still stuck? Report it and mention that you have already tried a hard refresh — it saves a round trip.
Tips
A hard refresh does not touch anything saved in Brolly, only what your browser fetched. It can lose text you had typed and not saved, so copy that first. Avoid clearing cookies or site data as a first step — that signs you out everywhere and removes browser-saved shortcuts.
If an organisation-managed browser keeps showing stale pages, ask your IT team whether a caching proxy or policy is in play — Brolly cannot change that from its side.