MCe is an advanced web application. This means it uses advanced browser features. The browsers, to protect you, purposely restrict what applications can do under certain circumstances, and they have been taking features away unless you meet their requirements.

Summary first:

• Do not run in 'in private' or 'incognito' modes
• Do not clear your browser cache/data for MCe's URL without first successfully doing a 'retire device'
• Do not 'retire device' unless you are retiring the device or support has told you to
• Do not run in HTTP. You must run in HTTPS (Notice the S on the end of the required one. The browser takes away a lot of features if you don't run in HTTPS)

If we give you a message saying something like: Welcome, this is your first time on this device, it can mean:

• It really is the 1st time. (This is the most common one of course.)
• You are running in 'in Private' or 'incognito' mode, which means among other things that the browsers delete everything, including your unsync'd changes, every time it is a new session. This is on purpose and the browser people say this is because YOU asked them to.
• You did a browser cache/data clear, which removes any indication that you were here before. It also deletes all your unsync'd changes – again, because you are asking it to.

Now the details and reasons:

You really must NOT be running in 'in private' or 'incognito'¹ modes

These are settings that are designed to let you hide information from the web application so the application has no way of knowing that you have been there before. Different browsers have different features they remove and from time to time they remove more, and they purposely try to make it impossible for applications to know when they are in 'in private' or 'incognito' modes².

In some cases, this means applications, including ours, will just 'crash'. It's really designed for very basic web searching where you don't want your wife or kids to know there you surfed. (If you use a corporate internet - they can know if they want because they see all the traffic), it gets rid of the history, it doesn't store data - on purpose, you get to see your pictures, you get to order your airline tickets with the least amount of data exposure.

Imagine the phone calls we get:

The examples below say "I'm running in 'in private'" mode, but sadly, it usually takes us several emails or phone calls back and forth before it becomes evident that the problem is you are running in 'in private' or 'incognito' mode. FORTUNATLY: we warn people, and so very seldom do people run in 'in private' mode. As this document is being updated, the most recent example happened when a technician took her tablet home and her son put the browser in 'in private' mode without her knowledge and he 'forgot' and left it in 'in private' mode. We were initially told "No, definitely not in that mode" but eventually it became so evident that the user got her son to check. (And of course his mom then had some follow-up questions for him!)

I'm running in 'in private' mode and all my unsyc'd changes were wiped out!

Yes, that is what 'in private' mode does on purpose. And the browsers refuse to let us warn you because they feel THEY already warned you and you chose to lose your data on purpose.

I'm running in 'in private' mode and some things don't work in MCe, MCxLE, MC Express or Accruent MC, Maximo, SAP, Hexagon, or I get errors.

Yes, the browsers do that ON PURPOSE and they believe they have given you sufficient warning. Just like the browsers block some of the things that we do, they block some of the things that Express and MC do. And just like we are blocked by the browser from knowing you are in 'in private' mode and warning you, Express and MRO are also blocked from warning you. The more sophisticated the app, the more problems you have in 'in private' mode.

You must NOT clear browser cache/data without taking precautions first

Clearing the browser cache is really only a good idea for buggy/poorly written software that is online only. It is NOT a good solution for any well written and especially bad for any applications that function truly offline.

Clearing the Cache is you telling the browser: "Get rid of everything and do NOT tell MCe that you did it. Hide this action from MCe."

Therefore, if you have ANY unsaved changes, they are permanently lost.

The correct way:

You need to make sure every user on the device has successfully 'retire device' before clearing the browser cache for 2 important reasons (maybe more):

1. If you have unsync'd changes, clearing the browser cache tells the browser to clear out your changes without any additional warning, meaning you lose your unsync'd changes.
2. For licensing, the browser will remove that info, meaning the server thinks you are still using this browser, so it will be about 48-72 hours before you can use this license again. (This is partly why we give you the right to use 3 copies – so that if you lose a device, you can still have 2 more places you can use MCe. But if you clear cache for 3 browsers within 48 hours, you will have to wait until one expires before you can use another browser.)

Running the 'retire device' before clearing the browser cache avoids both of these problems.

BUT there are downsides to 'retire device' as well

Any lists, like Labor, need to be reloaded when you log back in next time, otherwise when you go out into the field, there will be NO labors (etc..,) in MCe and they won't be able to get them unless they have a connection. (We found some ways to minimize it, and we are looking other ways to minimize this downside in a future version.)

Everything has to sync from scratch. If you have a slow connection or a lot of data, then ALL of that data has to be sent, not just the changes. (We will likely never be able to get around this downside.) Update 2025: As connection speeds get faster and faster, this is become much less of a problem. On the other hand, 5G while very fast, is blocked even more easily by concrete etc.., than 4G so the 'occasionally disconnected' can happen more, all else equal.

You need to be running in HTTPS

Browsers, when you are in HTTP do NOT allow you to save code for use offline. It won't let you use the camera/software barcoding, and every year or two they take away more features. This is on purpose, the browser people do not want you running in HTTP and they are doing lots of things to convince the last few people to move to HTTPS and they promise to irritate you more and more until you do everything in HTTPS.

In 2106 this was a hard sell. Fortunately now (June 2019) most people, and more important, all true technical IT people understand all the reasons why you should stop using sites that are HTTP even if it is in the intranet and I think most or all of our customers that are self hosting have switched to HTTPS. If not … see our other documents such as those in the Install, Server, HTTPS section for lots more information.