Member Avatar for Jackie.H

I have been told to delete Temporary internet Files in order to access a website, however my mac uses Safari and there is no such option. What is the Safari equivalent of Internet Explorer's 'Temporary Internet File' and how do I delete it?
Thanks for any help!

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Dani AI

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Safari does not use Internet Explorer's "Temporary Internet Files" name — the equivalent is its cache plus site data (cookies, local storage, etc.). Clearing those often fixes pages that refuse to load or show stale content. To remove site-stored data (selectively or all sites) use Safari -> Preferences -> Privacy -> Manage Website Data. (Manage cookies and website data). (help.apple.com)

If you want to clear only the cached files (not cookies/history), enable the Develop menu and use the Empty Caches command; to inspect what the browser actually downloaded use the Web Inspector (Develop -> Show Web Inspector) and the Network tab. Web Inspector shows resource names, MIME types and response bodies so you can verify what a page requested without hunting through raw files. (Empty Caches / Develop menu guidance, Safari Web Inspector guide). (support.apple.com)

Cached files look like gibberish in Finder because Safari stores them in a SQLite cache database (Cache.db) where most content is kept as BLOBs — not plain HTML files you can open directly. If the goal is to read what was actually retrieved, export a HAR or view the Network panel in Web Inspector; for cookies and per-site storage use Manage Website Data. (On how Cache.db holds blob data and URLs, see the analysis in the links below.) (stackoverflow.com)

Advanced/manual step (only if menus fail): quit Safari, then inspect or remove ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db (or move it to Trash). You can do this from Finder (View Library, open Caches) or Terminal (rm or mv); Safari will recreate the file. Back up first and expect to be logged out of sites. See Apple Support Community notes for examples and cautions. (discussions.apple.com)

Notes tied to the thread: pointed you in the right direction — clearing caches is the usual fix; , the many unreadable files are expected (they are stored as blobs), so use Web Inspector or Manage Website Data to examine site activity instead of trying to open the cache files in Finder.

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Member Avatar for Dani

In Safari, you can empty the cache. It's in the far left menu dropdown.

Member Avatar for Jackie.H

In Safari, you can empty the cache. It's in the far left menu dropdown.

Many thanks from Jackie.H

Member Avatar for Baja

How do you get to these cache files? I find numerous ones that can't be read.

By the way, the original post said DELETE temporary internet files to review them???

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