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What's the difference between F5 refresh and SHIFT+F5 in Google Chrome browser?

The reason I ask is because sometimes when using F5 on my site the pictures don't load properly but when using SHIFT+F5 the reload works.

Mwiza
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JayD
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3 Answers3

210

It ignores the cached content when refreshing...

https://support.google.com/a/answer/3001912?hl=en

F5 or Control + R = Reload the current page
Control+Shift+R or Shift + F5 = Reload your current page, ignoring cached content

PhoneixS
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Dan
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    I wonder if it was because I said that it cleared the cache when refreshing, which isn't quite correct. I've updated my answer. – Dan Dec 13 '13 at 15:02
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    That page doesn't mention Ctrl + F5 anymore. "Reload the current page, ignoring cached content Shift + F5 or Ctrl + Shift + r" – cfm Jul 19 '16 at 12:11
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    According to a Community Expert on the [Google Chrome Help Forum](https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/dDn6qXfXoac): "... the Chrome shortcuts 'Ctrl + F5' or 'Shift + F5' doesn't reload the Chrome page anymore. The only options that work for reloading the page are Ctrl + r (which reloads the current page) and Ctrl + shift + r (which reloads the current page, ignoring cached content)." – Mark D Worthen PsyD Jun 27 '18 at 20:06
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    @Mark D Worthen PsyD: F5 and Shift-F5 both still work for me using the latest version of Chrome (as do Ctrl-R and Ctrl-Shift-R) on. I tried on Win7 and Win Server 2008 R2 - will try on Win10 later. So much for experts! – Zeek2 Jul 09 '18 at 06:59
19

The difference is not just for Chrome but for most of the web browsers.

enter image description here

F5 refreshes the web page and often reloads the same page from the cached contents of the web browser. However, reloading from cache every time is not guaranteed and it also depends upon the cache expiry.

Shift + F5 forces the web browser to ignore its cached contents and retrieve a fresh copy of the web page into the browser.

Shift + F5 guarantees loading of latest contents of the web page.
However, depending upon the size of page, it is usually slower than F5.

You may want to refer to: What requests do browsers' "F5" and "Ctrl + F5" refreshes generate?

Chris Murphy
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Devendra Lattu
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  • thanks for the response ... i know how to clear my cache ... problem is cached images only show up half way sometimes.. .was just curious.. thanks – JayD Dec 13 '13 at 16:42
  • The above is currently correct for Chrome and Firefox but not for IE11 (which responds instead to: F5 and Control-F5 and Control-R. – Zeek2 Jul 09 '18 at 07:04
  • Does having F12 with disable cache (checked) also yield similar results? – petrosmm Oct 23 '19 at 18:51
5

Reload the current page:
F5
or
CTRL + R


Reload the current page, ignoring cached content (i.e. JavaScript files, images, etc.):
SHIFT + F5
or
CTRL + F5
or
CTRL + SHIFT + R

ognjenkl
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