Gmail Issue: Clearing Cache and Cookies
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A lot of hiccups in Gmail arise from corrupted cookies or cache. There are instructions around on how to do this, but it can be difficult to find them. The only gives the instructions for Google products. The links to other browsers given there are almost useless because they just point to the home page for each other browser's support site. So here is a collection of instructions for all browsers. Each heading is a link to the vendor's site where I collected the instructions.
On your computer, open Chrome.
Sign out of your Google account if you are still signed in.
On your browser toolbar, click More More Tools Clear Browsing Data.
In the "Clear browsing data" box, click the checkboxes for Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
Use the menu at the top to select the amount of data that you want to delete. Choose beginning of time to delete everything.
Click Clear data.
On 9 October 2018, I noticed that version 62 has different menu structure. For V62:
On your computer, open Firefox.
Sign out of your Google account if you are still signed in.
Click the menu button and choose Options.
Select the Privacy & Security panel.
Under Cookies and Site Data , click on the Clear Data button.
Select both Cookies and Site Data and Cached Web Content then, click Clear.
If you are using an older version of Firefox, these instructions might apply
On your computer, open Firefox.
Sign out of your Google account if you are still signed in.
Select the Advanced panel.
Click on the Network tab.
In the Cached Web Content section, click Clear Now.
On your computer, open Internet Explorer.
Sign out of your Google account if you are still signed in.
In Internet Explorer, select the Tools button, point to Safety, and then select Delete browsing history.
Choose the types of data or files you want to remove from your PC, and then select Delete.
On your computer, open Edge.
Sign out of your Google account if you are still signed in.
To view your browsing history, select the ... icon, then History > Clear browsing data.
Choose the types of data you want to remove from your PC, then select Clear now.
On your computer, open Edge.
Sign out of your Google account if you are still signed in.
To view your browsing history, select the ... icon, then History.
Select Clear history (top right).
Choose the types of data you want to remove from your PC, then select Clear.
If you use Cortana and want to clear browsing history that's stored in the cloud, select Change what Microsoft Edge knows about me in the cloud, then select Clear browsing history.
Desktop
On your computer, open Safari.
Sign out of your Google account if you are still signed in.
Click on the Safari option on the menu bar and navigate to “History > Clear History”.
Choose how far back (time range) you want to clear the browsing data. Please note that if your Mac and your other iOS device such as iPhone or iPad have Safari turned on in iCloud preferences, your browsing history would be removed from all of them if you take this action.
Mobile app
Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
Scroll down and tap on Safari.
Now scroll all the way to the bottom and tap on Advanced.
Tap on Website Data. ...
Scroll to the bottom again and tap on Remove All Website Data.
Confirm one more time you'd like to delete all data.
On your computer, open Opera*.
Sign out of your Google account if you are still signed in.
From the main menu, select History.
Hover over any entry and click the X that appears on the right.
* Opera is not officially supported by Gmail, but many users find it works.
Click the menu button and choose Options.
If you use Cortana and want to clear browsing history that's stored in the cloud, go to and sign into your Microsoft account.
To clear all browsing history, including cookies and more, click the Clear Browsing Data… button on the top-right of the page. .
