[Comprehensive Guide] How to Refresh on a Mac/MacBook

For Windows users who turn to Mac, you may be confused about the refresh key on a Mac. Is the Windows F5 key equal to the Mac F5 refresh key?

The answer is: The Mac F5 key is not the refresh key as the Windows. The right Mac refresh key is Command + R.

To learn more about how to refresh on a Mac/MacBook, keep reading for details.

Mac Refresh Shortcut

For most Mac apps, the refresh shortcut is Command + R.

The most common Mac refresh shortcuts are:

• Command + R
• Command + Shift+ R
• Command + Option + R

Check the guide below to use the right Mac refresh shortcut under different situations.

How to Refresh on a Mac/MacBook

To clarify this guide, we divide it into 3 parts - refresh a page in different browsers, refresh apps, and refresh screens. Go directly to the part that you need.

How to Refresh a Page on Mac

There are mainly 2 ways to refresh a page of different browsers on a Mac: press the Mac refresh shortcut and click the reload icon on the page. Here we will introduce how to refresh browser on a Mac:

• How to Reload Safari on Mac

  a: Click the reload icon at the top right.

  b: Press the Safari refresh shortcut on Mac: Command + Option +R /Command + R.

• How to Refresh Google/Firefox on Mac

  a: Click the reload icon at the top left.

  b: Press the Google/Firefox refresh shortcut on Mac: Command + Shift + R (Force Reload This Page)/Command + R (Reload This Page).

For Google, you can see three options to reload: Go to the View menu＞Click Develop＞Developer Tools＞ Right-click the reload icon at the top left.

There are 3 reload ways:

• Normal Reload: Command + R
• Hard Reload: Command + Shift + R
• Empty Cache and Hard Reload

How to Refresh Apps on Mac

Here we'll introduce some often-used apps that you may want to refresh.

• How to Refresh Mail on Mac to keep the mail updated.

Here is how:

1. Open the Mail app.
2. Click the Mailbox menu.
3. Click Get New Mail/Synchronize.

   

• How to Refresh Finder

As Apple Official writes, Finder is the home base for your Mac. Sometimes, the Finder may get stuck, lag, or not work. Just refresh it.

Here is how:

1. Press Command + Option + Esc to bring the force quit window.
2. Select Finder.
3. Click Relaunch.

• How to Refresh App Store

When you download apps or make a purchase in the App Store, you may want to get the most up-to-date information. And refresh can help. Here is how:

1. Open App Store.
2. Click the Store menu.
3. Reload Page.

• How to Refresh Message

The Message is an often-used app. And you may want to check messages on Mac as on your iPhone. To receive/load the instant message, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Messages app.
2. Click the Messages menu＞Settings.
3. Click iMessage＞Check Enable Messages in iCloud＞Sync Now.

How to Refresh Screen on Mac

To refresh your screen, you can change the refresh rate. Each time you change the refresh rate, the screen will refresh accordingly.

Here is how to change refresh rate on monitor:

1. Go to System Settings＞Display.
2. Change the refresh rate (variable 40-60 Hertz）.

Bonus: Optimize Your Mac Performance with BuhoCleaner

With time, your Mac may become laggy. And this may be one main reason that you want to refresh your Mac/MacBook.

BuhoCleaner is a user-friendly and effective Mac cleaner and Mac performance monitor yet performance optimizer.

The main Mac performance optimization features of BuhoCleaner:

• Flash Clean (Browser Cache, User Cache Files, etc. are included).
• App Uninstall (completely uninstall without leftovers).
• Duplicate photos, videos, file cleaning.
• Startup items management.
• Disk space analyzer.

Conclusion

After finishing this post, are you clear about how to refresh a Mac/MacBook? Try the Mac refresh shortcut now!

In addition, here are 65 useful Mac keyboard shortcuts that you may want to learn.

FAQs

1. What is the difference between Hard Refresh and Empty Cache?

   An explanation from Wiki says that hard refresh will force your browser to re-download a web page’s complete, update-to-date content. It is similar to cache refresh and uncached reload. Empty cache means to delete all the cache.

2. Why is the Mac F5 refresh key not working?

   It is because the F5 on Mac is not the refresh key. The F5 refresh key is just for Windows. But there if you are looking for the key works as the F5 refresh key on Mac, it's Command + R.