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Clear the Office cache

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The Office cache stores resources and data used by Office Add-ins. By accessing stored resources, an add-in's performance is improved as it avoids redownloading these resources when needed.

You should clear the Office cache in the following scenarios.

  • When you want to remove an add-in that you've previously sideloaded on Windows, Mac, or iOS.
  • When you've updated the manifest (for example, to update the file names of icons or text of add-in commands). This ensures that you're using the latest version of the add-in.

    Tip

    For add-ins that implement a task pane, if you only want the sideloaded add-in to reflect recent changes to its HTML or JavaScript source files, you shouldn't need to clear the cache. Instead, put focus in the add-in's task pane (by selecting anywhere within the task pane). Then, select Ctrl+F5 to reload the add-in.

  • When you want to resolve issues or errors when running the add-in.

Note

To remove a sideloaded add-in from Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, or Word on the web, see Sideload Office Add-ins in Office on the web for testing: Remove a sideloaded add-in.

To remove a sideloaded add-in from Outlook on the web, see Sideload Outlook add-ins for testing.

Types of caches

The Office cache can refer to either the web cache or the Wef cache.

  • The web cache temporarily stores web-based resources and data used by an individual Office Add-in.
  • The Wef cache locally stores resources and data for all installed Office Add-ins.

The following table outlines which Office cache types can be cleared on different platforms. It also provides links to instructions on how to clear a specific cache.

Platform Types of caches to clear Options to clear the cache
Windows Both the web and Wef caches. There's currently no option to clear one cache without clearing the other.
Mac
  • Web
  • Both web and Wef caches
iOS
  • Web

Clear the Office cache on Windows

Depending on your Office host and operating system, you can automatically or manually clear both the web and Wef caches on a Windows computer.

Important

On Windows, the automatic and manual options clear both the web and Wef caches. There's currently no option to clear one cache without clearing the other.

Automatically clear the cache

Note

The automatic option is only supported for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. Outlook only supports the manual option.

This method is recommended for add-in development computers. If your Office on Windows version is 2108 or later, the following steps configure the Office cache to be cleared the next time Office is reopened.

  1. From the ribbon of Excel, PowerPoint, or Word, navigate to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Trusted Add-in Catalogs.
  2. Select the Next time Office starts, clear all previously-started web add-ins cache checkbox.
  3. Select OK.
  4. Restart Excel, PowerPoint, or Word.

Manually clear the cache

Manually clear the cache in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint

To remove all sideloaded add-ins from Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, delete the contents of the following folder.

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\

If the following folder exists, delete its contents, too.

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Win32WebViewHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\AC\#!123\INetCache\

Manually clear the cache in Outlook

Before attempting to clear the cache in Outlook, first try to remove the sideloaded add-in using the steps outlined in Sideload Outlook add-ins for testing.

If this add-in removal doesn't work, then delete the contents of the Wef folder as noted for Excel, Word, and PowerPoint in Manually clear the cache in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

If your Outlook add-in uses the Unified manifest for Microsoft 365, also delete the following folder.

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\HubAppFileCache

To clear the cache in new Outlook on Windows, perform the following steps.

  1. Close the Outlook client if it's open.

  2. From a command line, run the following:

    olk.exe --devtools

    This opens the new Outlook on Windows client and an instance of the Microsoft Edge DevTools.

  3. In the Microsoft Edge DevTools window, select the Network tab.

  4. Select and hold (or right-click) anywhere in the Requests table. Then, select Clear browser cache.

Use the Microsoft Edge developer tools on Windows 10

To clear the Office cache on Windows 10 when the add-in is running in Microsoft Edge, use the Microsoft Edge DevTools.

Note

To clear the Office cache using the following steps, your add-in must have a task pane. If your add-in is a UI-less add-in -- for example, one that uses the on-send feature -- you'll need to add a task pane to your add-in that uses the same domain for SourceLocation, before you can use the following steps to clear the cache.

  1. Install the Microsoft Edge DevTools.

  2. Open your add-in in the Office client.

  3. Run the Microsoft Edge DevTools.

  4. In the Microsoft Edge DevTools, open the Local tab. Your add-in will be listed by its name.

  5. Select the add-in name to attach the debugger to your add-in. A new Microsoft Edge DevTools window will open when the debugger attaches to your add-in.

  6. On the Network tab of the new window, select Clear cache.

    Microsoft Edge DevTools with the Clear cache button highlighted.

  7. If completing these steps doesn't produce the desired result, try selecting Always refresh from server.

    Microsoft Edge DevTools with the Always refresh from server button highlighted.

Clear the Office cache on Mac

You can choose to clear the web or both the web and Wef caches on Mac.

Clear the web cache

Normally, the web cache is cleared by reloading the add-in. If more than one add-in exists in the same document, the process of automatically clearing the cache on reload might not be reliable.

To clear the web cache in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, use the personality menu of any task pane add-in.

Note

  • The personality menu in task panes is only supported in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. Because it isn't supported in Outlook, you must use the option to clear both the web and Wef caches instead.
  • The personality menu is only shown in macOS Version 10.13.6 or later.

From the add-in's task pane, choose the personality menu. Then, choose Clear Web Cache.

The "Clear web cache" option on the personality menu of an add-in's task pane.

Clear the web and Wef caches

To clear both the web and Wef caches on Mac, delete the contents of the ~/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.OsfWebHost/Data/ and ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.{host}/Data/Documents/wef folders. Replace {host} with the Office application, such as Excel.

Tip

Use the terminal or Finder to search for the specified folders. To look for these folders via Finder, you must set Finder to show hidden files. Finder displays the folders inside the Containers directory by product name, such as Microsoft Excel instead of com.microsoft.Excel.

Deleting the contents of the ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.{host}/Data/Documents/wef folder removes all sideloaded add-ins from an application.

Note

If the ~/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.OsfWebHost/Data/ folder doesn't exist, check for the following folders via terminal or Finder. If found, delete the contents of each folder.

  • ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.{host}/Data/Library/Caches/ where {host} is the Office application (e.g., Excel)
  • ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.{host}/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/16.0/Wef/ where {host} is the Office application (e.g., Excel)
  • ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2/Data/Caches/com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2/
  • ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2/Data/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2/

Clear the Office cache on iOS

To clear the web cache on iOS, call window.location.reload(true) from JavaScript in the add-in. This forces the add-in to reload. Alternatively, reinstall Office.

See also