Specifying a cache expiration date

Most Web browsers cache local copies of visited documents on the user’s hard drive. If the user revisits a Web page she has visited before, the browser may display the local copy, which can be much faster than fetching the document from the Web. In general, browsers display cached copies if they have determined (perhaps by examining the modification date) that the original document has not changed since the copy was created.

However, for some time-sensitive documents, you may want browsers to always retrieve a particular page from the Web server, overriding their cache policies. In other cases, you may want browsers not to use cached copies of a document after a certain date and time has passed. To override browser’s cache policies and force them to retrieve a particular document from the Web, you can specify a cache expiration date for the document. This date can be in the past, which causes browsers to never use cached copies of the document.

To specify a cache expiration date for a document
  1. On the Document menu, go to Property, click Document, and then click the Advanced tab.
  2. In the Expires on box under Cache expiration, enter the date after which browsers should not use cached copies of the document. (Click Sample Date to see the correct date/time format.)
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Specifying a cache expiration date