Clearing your Browser Cache & Cookies

Having issues with a website?

If you are having trouble logging on to a web page on reading.ac.uk that requires authentication, this may be caused by invalid information being stored within the browser on your device. Clearing your browser cache and cookies will delete the incorrect stored information and require you to log in again.

Try the following, in this order:

Easiest: Use a different browser – not all websites work properly in all browsers.

Then: Use an incognito or private window – this doesn’t use your stored information and requires you to re-enter credentials to the website.

Finally: Clearing website cache and cookies – this clears the information that is stored in your browser, and will require you to re-enter credentials to the website.

Instructions

We have prepared instructions for private browsing and how to clear your cache/cookies for the most popular browsers; click the link to go to instructions for your preferred browser:

For instructions for your tablet or mobile phone, see:

Android: Clearing cache and cookies

iOS: Clear your cache and cookies on iPhone

Popular browsers (desktop versions)

Microsoft Edge

InPrivate browsing

Select and hold (or right-click) the Microsoft Edge logo in the taskbar and select New InPrivate window.
In Microsoft Edge, select Settings and more> New InPrivate window.

If this lets you login successfully, you should also clear your browser cache so it does not happen next time.

Clear browser cache and cookies

To clear your browser cache and cookies in Edge please follow the procedure below:

Close all existing browser windows and open a new Edge window.
Click on the three horizontal dots in the top right hand corner.
Go to Settings and find “Privacy, search and services”
Scroll down the page to “Delete browsing data” and select Clear Browsing History
Then tick 'Cookies and saved website data' and 'Cached data and files' (if you only want to remove saved credentials)
Press the Clear button

Once you have done this, close all instances of your browser and load the page you are trying again.

Please note that performing this action will log you out of most of your websites as well as remove your data for forms, addresses etc.. Ensure that you have passwords stored for websites securely, or have means of resetting them if required.

For detailed instructions with screenshots, please see Clearing Cache: Edge.

Google Chrome

Incognito mode

Select and hold (or right-click) the Google Chrome logo in the taskbar and select New Incognito window.
In Google Chrome, press Ctrl+Shift+N
In Google Chrome, click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner for Settings and select new Incognito window.

If this lets you login successfully, you should also clear your browser cache so it does not happen next time.

Clear browser cache and cookies

To clear your browser cache and cookies in Chrome please follow the procedure below:

Close all existing browser windows and open a new Chrome window.
Click on the three dots in the top right corner
Select More Tools > Clear Browsing Data...
Then set the dropdown labelled 'Clear the following items from:' to 'the beginning of time'
Tick "Cached images and files" and "Cookies and other site data"
Then press the "Clear browsing data" button on this dialogue

Once you have done this, close all instances of your browser and load the page you are trying again.

Please note that performing this action will log you out of most of your websites as well as remove your data for forms, addresses etc.. Ensure that you have passwords stored for websites securely, or have means of resetting them if required.

For detailed instructions with screenshots, please see Clearing Cache: Chrome.

Mozilla Firefox

New Private Window

In Firefox, press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) or macOS Shift+⌘(cmd)+P
In Firefox, click the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner of the Firefox window and select New Private Window

If this lets you login successfully, you should also clear your browser cache so it does not happen next time.

Clear browser cache and cookies

To clear your browser cache and cookies in Firefox please follow the procedure below:

Close all existing browser windows and open a new Firefox window.
At the top right click on the three bar menu
Select History
Select 'Clear recent history'
Then in 'Time range to clear' please select 'Everything'
Expand 'Details' and ensure only 'Cookies' and 'Cache' are checked
Press 'Clear Now'

Once you have done this, close all instances of your browser and load the page you are trying again.

Please note that performing this action will log you out of most of your websites as well as remove your data for forms, addresses etc.. Ensure that you have passwords stored for websites securely, or have means of resetting them if required.

For detailed instructions with screenshots, please see Clearing Cache: Firefox.

Safari (for MacOS)

New Private Window

To open a Private Window go to File (top of the screen on macOS) and click on New Private Window OR press Shift+⌘(cmd)+N
If this lets you login successfully, you should also clear your browser cache so it does not happen next time.

Clear browser cache and cookies

To clear your browser cache and cookies just for University of Reading sites in Safari please follow the procedure below:

Go to Preferences,
Go to Privacy,
Click on "Manage Website Data...",
Search for "reading.ac.uk",
Select "reading.ac.uk" and any other related sites,
Click "Remove" and then "Done"
Once you have done this, please close all instances of your browser and try to load the page again.

Please note that performing this action will log you out of most of reading.ac.uk websites as well as remove your data for forms, addresses etc. for those websites. Ensure that you have passwords stored for websites securely, or have means of resetting them if required.

For more detailed instructions, see Clear cookies in Safari on Mac.

Still having problems?

Please raise a ticket with the Service Desk or visit us at the Library so we can help.

Page updated by lm920207 on 31/03/25