Guide
I changed my website, but it still shows the old version
Facts checked Oct 8, 2026
Your website still shows the old version after you changed it? It's one of three look-alike problems, and a private window tells you which.
Which one is it?
Say you changed a meeting from 6pm to 7pm, pressed save, and the site still says 6pm. Open the page in a private window first (below), then find your case here.
| What you see | What it is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Old on your computer, new in a private window | Your browser's saved copy | A hard refresh. Part 1 |
| Old everywhere, even in a private window and on a phone on cellular data, but your editor says it's published | The website's cache, or a CDN | Wait up to an hour, clear the site's cache, or tell your web person. Part 2 |
| Old everywhere, and your editor says Draft or Scheduled, or the old time is somewhere you didn't edit | The change never published | Publish it, or change it in the right place. Part 3 |
Not sure? Check part 3 before you wait out part 2. It takes a minute.
1. Your browser's saved copy (the cache)
Your browser keeps copies of pages you've visited so they open faster next time. That store of copies is called the cache. Now and then it shows you the old copy instead of the new page.
What you see: the old version on your own computer or phone, while other people see the new one.
How to tell: open the page in a private window. It's kept apart from your normal browsing and isn't signed in to your site, so it shows you roughly what a visitor sees.
- Chrome or Edge on Windows Ctrl + Shift + N
- Chrome or Edge on a Mac ⌘ + Shift + N
- Safari or Firefox New Private Window, in the menu
What to do: go back to your normal window and do a hard refresh, which skips the saved copy:
- Windows (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) Ctrl + Shift + R
- Mac (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) ⌘ + Shift + R
Safari and phones work differently: Hard refresh a page has the steps. If the private window shows the new version, you're done: the website is right, and visitors get the new page. If someone tells you they still see the old one, send them the same keys or that guide's link. Still stuck on your own computer? Clear your cache.
2. The website's own cache, or a CDN
Many websites keep ready-made copies of their pages, so they load fast for everyone. Some also sit behind a CDN (content delivery network): servers in many places that hand out copies of your pages from somewhere near each visitor. Until those copies are refreshed, everyone gets the old one.
What you see: your editor shows the change, published. But a private window, a different browser and a phone with Wi-Fi off, on cellular data, all show the old version.
How to tell: that phone test. It skips your computer, your browser and your Wi-Fi. One more sign: on WordPress, many caching plugins don't use the cache for people signed in, so you see the new version in your normal window while visitors don't. The private window shows what they get.
What to do:
- Wait a little. Most caches refresh by themselves. How long depends on how the site is set up: often minutes, sometimes an hour or more.
- Clear it yourself, if you can. On WordPress, a caching plugin often adds its own menu to the black bar along the top of the screen while you're signed in, with an item like Purge All or Delete Cache. Some web hosts have a similar button in their control panel. Clearing a cache doesn't touch your content; the next visitor just gets a fresh copy.
- Still old after an hour? Tell your web person or your web host, with the message below.
Send this to your web person
Not sure what to say? Copy this into an email, add your website's address, and send it.
Hi, I changed [the page's address] at [the time and date]: [what you changed, for example the meeting time from 6pm to 7pm]. The editor shows the change saved and published, but the page still shows the old version. It's the same in a private window and on a phone on cellular data, so it isn't just my browser. Could you clear the website's cache (and the CDN's, if we use one) for that page, and tell me when it's done? If this happens every time we make a change, could you set it to clear by itself when we publish? Thanks
3. The change never published
Saved isn't always the same as live. What you see: the old version everywhere, for everyone, and it doesn't change however long you wait.
The usual reasons:
- It's a draft. In WordPress, Save draft keeps your changes out of sight until someone presses Publish.
- It's scheduled. A page or post set to go live at a later date and time stays hidden until then.
- The last button wasn't pressed. After changing a live WordPress page, press Save (Update in older versions and the classic editor). In Wix, saving doesn't make changes live: press Publish.
- You edited the wrong page, such as a copy, an old draft with the same name, or the page for last year's event.
- The text lives in more than one place. A calendar, an events list or a notice box on the home page often comes from somewhere else: an events plugin, a widget, the footer. Changing the meetings page doesn't change those.
How to check, in WordPress:
- Open Pages (or Posts) in your dashboard. After the title of anything that isn't live, WordPress writes Draft, Scheduled or Pending. Your home page is the one marked Front Page.
- Look at the Date column. It says Published, Scheduled or Last Modified, with a date. Last Modified there means the page has never been published.
- Type the old text (6pm) into the search box above the list. Anything that turns up is another place it lives. Nothing? Look in your events or calendar plugin, under Appearance for widgets and the footer, and in any notice box on the home page.
Other builders have the same idea under different names: look for an unpublished, draft, hidden or scheduled label on the page, and a Publish button that hasn't been pressed.
Catch it next time
After any change, open the page in a private window before you tell anyone it's done. Ten seconds, and you see what your visitors see. To check a page on a phone, tablet and laptop at once, use Screen sizes.