# External CSS file never gets updated **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Created:** [January 11, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637 "2024-01-11T15:01:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichelyWeb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/michelyweb/32/6652_2.png) [@MichelyWeb](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/MichelyWeb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/1 "2024-01-11T15:01:15Z")
I load an externasl CSS file which is generated by an WP Plugin to my page in pinegrow. ```auto ``` This file has now been changed externally, but Pinegrow still loads an old version. Menu “File / Clear Cache” does not help. Menu “Open Page in Browser” shows the following file path: ```auto ``` What’s the problem here? How to solve that? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![TechAkayy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@TechAkayy](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/TechAkayy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/2 "2024-01-11T16:48:17Z")
> [@MichelyWeb](#): > > `celesta` The second link is different to the first one. Are they the same? ---
**Author:** ![MichelyWeb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/michelyweb/32/6652_2.png) [@MichelyWeb](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/MichelyWeb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/3 "2024-01-11T16:52:31Z")
yes, sorry. forgot to replace it with “mysite” in my code example above (edited now). They are the same in real world. ---
**Author:** ![TechAkayy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@TechAkayy](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/TechAkayy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/4 "2024-01-11T16:56:42Z")
> [@MichelyWeb](#): > > `automatic-css` Does the external process of updating the file involves deleting & re-creating the containing folder, `/automatic-css/`? That could be the reason, as Pinegrow loses tracking the original file. ---
**Author:** ![TechAkayy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@TechAkayy](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/TechAkayy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/5 "2024-01-11T16:58:21Z")
You could also try reloading the project by right-clicking on the project name in the project panel. ---
**Author:** ![MichelyWeb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/michelyweb/32/6652_2.png) [@MichelyWeb](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/MichelyWeb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/6 "2024-01-11T16:59:56Z")
tried that. Does not help. ---
**Author:** ![MichelyWeb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/michelyweb/32/6652_2.png) [@MichelyWeb](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/MichelyWeb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/7 "2024-01-11T17:14:25Z")
> [@TechAkayy](#): > > Does the external process of updating the file involves deleting & re-creating the containing folder, `/automatic-css/`? That could be the reason, as Pinegrow loses tracking the original file. Could not find any code that removes the whole directory before generating the css files. ---
**Author:** ![MichelyWeb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/michelyweb/32/6652_2.png) [@MichelyWeb](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/MichelyWeb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:18pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/8 "2024-01-11T17:18:03Z")
At the moment I have created softlinks in the terminal from the generated css files to the Pinegrow project folder. Then it works, but I don’t want to have to do that because it needs file exclusion from export and also in .gitignore. ---
**Author:** ![TechAkayy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@TechAkayy](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/TechAkayy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/9 "2024-01-11T17:24:14Z")
Is this file outside the project folder that’s opened in Pinegrow? ---
**Author:** ![MichelyWeb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/michelyweb/32/6652_2.png) [@MichelyWeb](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/MichelyWeb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:28pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/10 "2024-01-11T17:28:56Z")
Yes, Wordpress is installed on another folder. ---
**Author:** ![TechAkayy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@TechAkayy](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/TechAkayy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/11 "2024-01-11T17:31:45Z")
It is possible that files outside the current project are not watched, will wait for @matjaz to confirm this. Your softlink hack, though inconvenient, might be a good solution in this instance. ---
**Author:** ![MichelyWeb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/michelyweb/32/6652_2.png) [@MichelyWeb](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/MichelyWeb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/12 "2024-01-11T17:35:20Z")
I’ve found the CSS files in the “mapped\_urls” folder. They are copied as soon as I add the external CSS file via Stylesheet Manager: ![CleanShot 2024-01-11 at 18.31.53@2x](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/pinegrow/original/2X/6/68007994afac7005b398e4d13280467aa3afda0f.png) Maybe this is the reason why the loaded CSS filesnever get’s updated? @matjaz can you please enlighten me. ---
**Author:** ![TechAkayy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@TechAkayy](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/TechAkayy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:43pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/13 "2024-01-11T17:43:28Z")
That could be it, I missed noticing that its not loaded from the file system. I don’t think urls resources can be automatically refreshed, as there is no way to watch that file for changes. Why not load it via the file system directly, which is what your softlinks hack is, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![MichelyWeb](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/michelyweb/32/6652_2.png) [@MichelyWeb](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/MichelyWeb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/14 "2024-01-11T18:22:51Z")
> [@TechAkayy](#): > > Why not load it via the file system directly, which is what your softlinks hack is, isn’t it? reverencing the files from outside the project folder was not working using relative path. > [@TechAkayy](#): > > I don’t think urls resources can be automatically refreshed, as there is no way to watch that file for changes. I do not want them to be refreshed live when editing. I just want them to be loaded as external files but they was not changing - i think now this has to do with the mapped\_urls thing - the files are copied and maybe used instead of loaded form the real URL. ---
**Author:** ![TechAkayy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@TechAkayy](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/TechAkayy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/15 "2024-01-11T21:18:48Z")
Looks like you are just using that stylesheet just like how we would use say bootstrap css from the cdn ([https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@3.3.7/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@3.3.7/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css)). So, clearing the cache & restarting pinegrow should help with pulling the fresh stylesheet. Not sure where mapped-urls come into play here, Im probably missing something. Lets see what others think. ---
**Author:** ![reflex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@reflex](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/reflex)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2025, 6:35am UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/external-css-file-never-gets-updated/8637/16 "2025-05-08T06:35:04Z")
The mapped\_urls folder exists in the project root folder. It appears co cache the external style sheet. I delete the contents of this folder when needed, and it repopulates with the current versions when the html file is saved.