Hey there, Moodle enthusiasts! Chris Richter here from Ricoshae. Today, we’re diving into a crucial administrative task: purging your Moodle cache. You might be wondering, “What exactly is the Moodle cache, and why would I need to clear it?” Let’s break it down.
Understanding the Moodle Cache
First things first, it’s essential to distinguish between your browser’s cache and Moodle’s internal cache. Your browser cache stores information from any website you visit to help pages load faster. The Moodle cache, however, is specific to your Moodle Learning Management System.
Moodle uses its own cache to store frequently accessed data like theme templates, JavaScript files, and CSS files. These elements are often dynamically generated on the server. By caching this information, Moodle significantly speeds up page loading times, especially beneficial for sites with thousands of students.
When to Purge Your Moodle Cache
While Moodle typically handles cache clearing automatically via a cron job, this process isn’t instantaneous. There are times when you’ll want to manually purge the cache to see immediate changes. This is particularly relevant if you’ve:
- Made a small change to a Moodle template.
- Modified one of your Moodle pages.
- Updated your Moodle theme or added a child theme.
If you’ve made any of these changes and they’re not appearing as expected, a manual cache purge is likely the solution.
How to Purge Your Moodle Cache
Clearing the Moodle cache is a straightforward process, provided you have administrator access. Here’s how you do it:
- Log in as an Administrator: Ensure you are logged into your Moodle site with administrator privileges.
- Navigate to Site Administration: In the main navigation, find and click on “Site administration.”
- Go to Development: Within the Site administration menu, select “Development.”
- Choose Purge Caches: Finally, click on “Purge caches.”
You’ll then have a couple of options:
- Purge all caches: This will clear every cached item in Moodle. It’s a comprehensive solution if you’re unsure which specific cache needs clearing.
- Select specific caches: If you’ve only been working on a particular area, such as language strings or a theme, you can choose to purge only the relevant cache.
For demonstration purposes, let’s select “Purge all caches.” Click the “Purge” button, and Moodle will quickly clear all cached data. It’s that simple!
Beyond Caching: Top 10 Moodle Admin Tasks
Purging the cache is just one of many essential tasks for a Moodle administrator. If you’re looking to deepen your Moodle admin skills, I’ve got a video that covers the top 10 admin tasks every Moodle administrator should know. This includes:
- How to run cron
- How to set tasks
- Turning on debugging
- Reading log files
- Editing the config
- Running automated backups
- Checking the performance overview
- Checking security reports
- How to use ad-hoc database queries
You can find the link to that video below.
Top 10 Moodle Admin Tasks Download
I hope this guide on purging your Moodle cache has been helpful. Feel free to explore more videos on how to make the most out of the Moodle learning management system!