How to Clear Cache on Mac OS X

If you are experiencing slower than the normal speed of Safari on your Mac than the possible reason behind this could be the cache files on it. These cache files accumulate over time on your system with your browsing and other activities. These cache files when accumulated in large numbers could affect your system speed negatively.

Thankfully, latest versions of the Safari web browser on your Mac offers a hidden feature to clear web caches automatically from the browser without having to remove browsing history, cookies, searches etc. Let’s discuss ways to clear cache on Mac OS X.

Delete the Cache in Safari

In order to clear cache in Safari for Mac OS X, you’ll first require enabling the Develop Menu in the menu bar from within the app's Preferences. This optional menu contains various developer-centric features. It also includes the ability to directly clear cache from Safari browsing session on your Mac. To clear & empty Safari browser caches in Mac OS X,

• Open Safari on the Mac.
• Now go to Safari menu in the upper left corner and select Preferences > Advanced > and click on “Show Develop menu in menu bar” option and close the Preferences window.
• Go back to Safari browser window and select “Develop” menu, choose “Empty Caches” from the drop down menu. This process will remove Safari Caches but retain browser history and saved passwords.
• To delete all browsing history and cache from Safari, click on Safari menu and select Reset Safari option. Now select the browsing data you want to delete such as saved passwords, history, auto-fill entries etc. If you choose Clear History option than your Cache will be removed as well.

When you enable Develop menu in Safari on your Mac it will provide you access to a keystroke shortcut for removing Caches in Safari using Command + Option + E option. It offers a faster method to delete cache without having to pull down the menu every time. You can also clear browser cache for a specific page with Shift + Click option.

Manually delete the Cache files

If you find that clearing cache from within the browser doesn’t delete all of the cache files, then you can do the manual cleaning to remove all cache files from your system. To do the manual cleaning:

• You need to first open the hidden Library files as some cache files remain hidden in your system. To open this, you’ll require special commands. To do this first open the Finder menu at the top of your screen. Now hold down the Option key and click on the Go menu. Select Library folder from the drop-down menu.
• Next is to navigate to the cache file. To do this open the Cache folder from within the Library folder. In the Cache folder find and open “com.apple.Safari” folder and select file named “cache.db”. Drag this file to the Trash Can to completely remove your browser’s cache. Safari on your system will create a new “cache.db” file automatically when you run a new web page.

You can follow these simple steps to fix cache problem on your Mac OS X. Clearing unnecessary cache files you can recover some precious storage space. It also helps you improve your system performance.