How do I clear cache in Safari now?

found the answer.


Message was edited by: Lisa Hodgen

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 19, 2012 1:52 PM

Reply
71 replies

Aug 1, 2013 4:40 AM in response to freediverx01

Hi freediver,


I don't want to have to manually delete a file that's burried several layers deep in a hidden folder


I agree. It should be easier. However, having followed the procedure posted by SeanWolf for finding and then deleting the Cache.db file, I right-clicked on the folder com.apple.Safari that contains the cache, and made an Alias of that folder. I moved the Alias to a handy place. The next time I need to clear the Safari cache, a double-click on that Alias will open that folder and I can delete Cache.db


Thank you all for your help.


Regards,

Ian.

Aug 9, 2013 12:23 PM in response to Yellowbox

Try this:


Save the following Applescript as an application

Run to delete the Cache.db



--Empty Safari Cache (v1)

--NB: Save as application

---------------------------------------------


(*==========PROPERTIES==========*)


property path2home : (path to home folder)

property TargetFileName : "Cache.db"

property TargetFileLocation : (path2home & "Library:Caches:com.apple.Safari:") as text

property TargetFile : TargetFileLocation & TargetFileName

property mytitle : "Empty Safari Cache"



(*==========SCRIPT==========*)


--check if Safari is running

set SafariRunning to false

tell application "Finder" to get name of processes

set application_list to result

if application_list contains "Safari" is true then

set SafariRunning to true

end if


--dialog

display dialog "Empty Safari Cache?" default button 2 --with icon 1

--quit Safari first!

if SafariRunning is true then

display dialog "Quit Safari to continue!" buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button 2 with icon 0

end if

tell application "Safari" to quit

delay 1


--trash file

tell application "Finder"

if exists file TargetFile then


deleteTargetFile

tell me

display dialog "Cache emptied." buttons {"Launch Safari", "Done"} default button 2 --with icon 1 with title mytitle

set button_returned to button returned of the result

end tell

else

tell me

display dialog "Cache already empty!" buttons {"Launch Safari", "Done"} default button 2 --with icon 1 with title mytitle

set button_returned to button returned of the result

end tell

end if

end tell


--relaunch Safari

if button_returned is "Launch Safari" then

tell application "Safari" to activate

end if


(*==========END==========*)

Sep 21, 2013 12:28 PM in response to Yellowbox

Hi Yellowbox, I simply set up the folder alias as you suggest and can delete the file called cache.db, but what are the other two caches cache.db-shm and cache.db-wal?


There is also a cache in my folder called Webpage Previews that shows previews of all/some of the browser pages initiated from - I think - Google search, maybe bookmarks, and ?????


What is the effect of deleting these additional caches?

I see above someone suggested deleting the full folder.

Jan 7, 2014 1:34 PM in response to Lisa Hodgen

Is "Empty Caches" the same as "Disaable Caches"?


It doesn't show "Empty" when I click on "Develop" in menu bar. Just shows "Disable".


Can I do any harm or lose information, etc, when I click on this? Can I lose important 'stuff'? (I'm not even sure what a 'cache' is....a guy I work with suggested I should do this once per year!)


Thanks

Jan 7, 2014 10:56 PM in response to OAFCOK

I just spent some further time clicking around for the answer to my question...above.


When I clicked on the Safari symbol (top left) one of the options was "Empty Cache"...perhaps that's all there is to it????????


Seems too easy after reading the four pages of what some of you folks have been through? *Scratches head*


Though I am apprehensive to empty in case I screw something up. (Not a techie!) And I don't know which version of Safari I have....Macbook is three years old.


Anyone? I would appreciate the assistance.

Jan 7, 2014 11:21 PM in response to OAFCOK

Hi oafcok,


I don't know which version of Safari I have


Menu > Safari > About Safari


My version of Safari is 7.0.1. App Store does not show a Safari update waiting, so this is the latest version (for my Mac).


To clear browsing history etc. Menu > Safari > Reset Safari... then choose what you want to delete. I do this from time to time and nothing bad happens. If I delete everything in Reset, the only thing I have to do afterwards is enter my username on sites such as this, then it remembers me again.


Have a stroll around Menu > Safari > Preferences. For example, I prefer 'Remove history items: After One Day'. If a site is particularly interesting, I save that link in bookmarks or as a text file. Better than having to trawl though a long History.


I am not a techie, so I don't know what is in the cache.


Regards,

Ian.



Jul 5, 2014 6:09 AM in response to TildeBee

I'm pretty sure Apple hid it for the same reason they hid the user Library. There isn't much need of clearing cache. PC geeks love to clear "temp" data, because for Windows XP and older, it often made a big performance boost. Mac OS rarely has any faulty cache, and clearing good cache just slows safari. The purpose of cache is to speed re-loading content.


Hmmm... pretty weird. Now this forum has no sub-replies. Last time I logged in here (and for many years before), you got your reply to a specific post to appear under that post. This new organization is MUCH more annoying than loosing the easy cache removal of Safari.

Nov 2, 2014 5:27 PM in response to Kevin Cody

Oh my God


In the first place I don't understand why the library is suddenly buried. I did not want to update to Yosemite in the first place but was forced to it during the its mess. Frankly think it is well below Apples usually high standards.


Anyway when I finally get all the way down to the library file that i the topic of this discussion the only thing I find that is actually names cache.db is some sort of read me file that I can't get access to anyway.


The file folders that are there are as follows:

com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing

Extensions (which appears to be some way for Norton to check sites

fsCachedData

Remote Notifications

Webpage Previews


I am guessing fsCachedData is the file I should actually dump.


Does anybody know?

Nov 4, 2014 1:58 PM in response to nugj

I thought I would post this again to see if somebody knew which one of these files I should send to the trash. I think I really need to do this for a multitude of reasons. Did it for Mozilla which does not have anywhere near the cache that I have in Safari and my computer really did get much zippier just with that. Please help. Anyway the files I have In library/cache.db appear to be a little different from what folks have reported. I am sure some of them is the right file folder. Can anyone identify the right one?


In the first place I don't understand why the library is suddenly buried. I did not want to update to Yosemite in the first place but was forced to it during the its mess. Frankly think it is well below Apples usually high standards.


Anyway when I finally get all the way down to the library file that i the topic of this discussion the only thing I find that is actually names cache.db is some sort of read me file that I can't get access to anyway.


The file folders that are there are as follows:

com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing

Extensions (which appears to be some way for Norton to check sites

fsCachedData

Remote Notifications

Webpage Previews


I am guessing fsCachedData is the file I should actually dump.


Does anybody know?

Jul 20, 2015 8:06 PM in response to Lisa Hodgen

No one here has the right answer. 10 dot person or not, I've tried clearing the cache from the the library to the develop menu, IT DOESN'T WORK! I'm still left with 1.5 GB or more of cache crap! I'm convinced now it's a virus hiding in another part of my Mac. I just have to find it. When I do, if Link doesn't find it first, I'll let you know how to get rid of it. Sincerely, one dot man.

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How do I clear cache in Safari now?

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