Have you published changes in Prismic that aren't appearing on your website? Or maybe it takes a certain amount of time before you see the changes? Here we discuss the most usual causes of something like this.
How long does it take for changes in Prismic to appear in the API?
The Prismic API will immediately refresh with new content as soon as you publish it. You can verify that the changes are coming through by viewing the document in your API Browser.
Here is the documentation for how to use the API Browser.
If you check your API Browser and find that your changes aren't appearing, then reach out to the Prismic team through the chat feature in your Prismic repository or on the prismic.io website.
If you find that your changes are appearing correctly in the browser, then next we will cover the most common reasons for this.
Note: If you are not a developer in charge of your website application, then you will likely need to ask for help from your development team to find out if any of these are the cause of this issue for you.
1. Your website application uses a caching system
If your website application implements a caching system, then it is likely that your site is still serving the cached version of the page.
In order to see the new content, you will need to either wait for the cache to refresh or manually trigger a refresh.
Many developers take advantage of our Webhooks feature to inform their website application that something has changed in the website and the cache needs to be refreshed.
2. Your website application is caching the master ref or the API object
Some developers save or cache the master ref or API object of their repository in order to reduce the number of calls to the API. We don't recommend doing this.
When you publish new content, a new master ref is generated. In order to see the new content, you need to retrieve the API object which has the new master ref and perform your query with the new updated API object.
That's why we recommend retrieving the API object before every query to ensure that you are using the most up-to-date master ref in order to retrieve the most up-to-date content.
3. You use Webhooks to trigger a re-build of your site
If your website application relies on Prismic's Webhook system, then there is a chance that something went wrong in that process.
You can check the status of your webhook triggers in Prismic from your repository's Settings / Webhooks.
Note that you need to have administrator access in order to view your repository's settings. If you aren't able to view the settings, then you will need to get help from someone on your team with Admin access
4. Preview cookies haven't been cleared correctly
The preview cookie is generated in your browser and should always be cleared using the 'X' button of the preview toolbar. If preview mode isn't exited correctly, then your browser cookie will try to grab a ref that no longer exists.
The issue you might be seeing only exists in your browser and no one else's. A good way to test is to open your site in incognito or in another browser.
A preview cookie expires when the preview data is updated and/or the data has been published.