# Google: What Happened to that "Cache" option? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481 "2016-11-30T19:23:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/1 "2016-11-30T19:23:54Z")
When one performed a Google search, one is bound to hit upon a few bad links. As I recall, it used to be that Google had a “cache” option that retained a small amount of info from an extinct website. At first, cached info could be accessed by a link, and later I seem to recall it became a clickable button to access the cached info for a bad link. Now, it seems that option is totally gone. Naturally, the most intriguing hits in my Google searches are bad links. ☹ Is there still a way to see, what Google would call, “cached” data? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/2 "2016-11-30T19:32:55Z")
It is still there. Just look for the little down arrow to the right of the link. “Cached” is one of the options in the drop-down menu. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/3 "2016-11-30T20:34:06Z")
And of course there is always the [Internet Archive Wayback Machine](https://archive.org/web/) which has more than 279 billion cached web pages dating back in some cases to the very beginnings of the Web. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/4 "2016-12-01T00:20:05Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It is still there. Just look for the little down arrow to the right of the link. “Cached” is one of the options in the drop-down menu. I can’t believe that! I never even SAW that arrow before! I always figured that Google simply dumped this great feature for some reason. Thanks! (Why do they love to hide this stuff? Especially nowadays when the average screen has so much more space than 10-20 years ago? I don’t get it.) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/5 "2016-12-01T01:30:19Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > And of course there is always the [Internet Archive Wayback Machine](https://archive.org/web/) which has more than 279 billion cached web pages dating back in some cases to the very beginnings of the Web. Except, of course, that when a URL is lost, and gets taken over by advertisers deploying a “no robots” instruction, the Wayback Machine honours the NEW instruction wrt the OLD content. I have no idea why they do this. It sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Disgscen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@Disgscen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgscen)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/6 "2016-12-01T17:07:04Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > (Why do they love to hide this stuff? Especially nowadays when the average screen has so much more space than 10-20 years ago? I don’t get it.) Your average overlooks a large subset (I suspect a majority) of today’s screens. ---
**Author:** ![albino\_manatee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/albino_manatee/32/2_2.png) [@albino\_manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/albino_manatee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/7 "2016-12-02T03:33:17Z")
i might be able to offer some help … > **[Google Cached Pages of Any Website - CachedView](http://cachedview.com/)** > > CachedView - Google Cached Pages for any web site. It is the ultimate Google Cache browser. they also discussed it in stack-exchange: > ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/8 "2016-12-02T08:02:21Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > (Why do they love to hide this stuff? Especially nowadays when the average screen has so much more space than 10-20 years ago? I don’t get it.) They want to deemphasize the feature, to reduce its usage. It’s probably a concession to those few sites that freaked out that Google provides a public copy of their site. It’s not a small screen thing, since smaller screens use the mobile site by default, which doesn’t even have the arrow. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/9 "2016-12-02T10:43:19Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Except, of course, that when a URL is lost, and gets taken over by advertisers deploying a “no robots” instruction, the Wayback Machine honours the NEW instruction wrt the OLD content. > > I have no idea why they do this. It sucks. I didn’t know that, and you’re right - it sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-what-happened-to-that-cache-option/773481/10 "2016-12-10T21:34:55Z")
I’ll look again, but in the virtual world as in life…I am always short on cache! 😉