DocumentationExperience Cloud KCS

AEM: Published changes not visible on QA environment domain due to CDN cache

Last update: September 4, 2026

This article explains how to resolve situations where recently published changes in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) are not reflected on the QA environment domain because of cached content served by a CDN.

Description description

Environment

  • Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), any version
  • QA environment domain served through a CDN

Issue/Symptoms

  • Published page changes are visible on the direct AEM Publish URL but not on the QA environment domain.
  • The QA environment domain continues to display an older cached version of the page.
  • Related assets, including images, CSS, and JavaScript files, continue to serve cached content.
  • AEM Author and Publish instances reflect the latest updates, and the issue is resolved after clearing the CDN cache.

Cause

The QA environment domain is served through a CDN that caches content. If the CDN cache is not purged after publishing, the CDN continues to serve stale content, which prevents recent changes from appearing on the QA environment domain despite successful publishing in AEM.

Resolution resolution

Follow the steps below to resolve the issue.

  1. Identify the affected pages and related assets, including images, CSS, and JavaScript files, that are not updating on the QA environment domain.
  2. Use the CDN purge functionality to clear the cache for the affected page paths and related asset paths.
  3. Allow time for the cache purge to propagate across the CDN network.
  4. Open the QA environment domain URL in an incognito or private browsing window to avoid local browser cache interference.
  5. Compare the content on the QA environment domain with the direct AEM Publish URL to confirm that the latest changes are visible.
  6. Set up automated cache purging as described in the CDN and AEM documentation if recurrence becomes a concern.
  7. Refer to the CDN documentation or contact the CDN administrator if the purge process requires a purge key or other credentials.

Note: After completing the steps, the QA environment domain should display the latest published changes and assets.

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