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How to disable Versions completely

Hi there


I work with extremely large files so the Versions features actually slows everthing down and I have to wait often for it to finnish saving the file.

How can I disable this feature on the OS.


The application that I have the most issues with is Omnigraffle and the app itself does not have an setting to disable the feature so I need to disable it on the OS


Thanks



C

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 5:18 AM

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Posted on Jul 22, 2011 7:56 AM

As far as I've seen, Versions only works with TextEdit, Preview, and the recent updates to Numbers and Pages, and it only saves the changes, not a whole separate copy of the document.


Check with the maker of your app; it sounds like it has a different feature.

222 replies

Jul 22, 2011 2:18 PM in response to Pondini

Since I have a Mac Pro with four internal drives, running (now) four versions of Mac OS, I thought I would try launching the TextEdit that lives on my Snow Leopard drive. It launched just fine, but Preview crashed on launch (I rather thought it would--I recalled that in order to get the Tiger version to run in Leopard you had to hack something, I no longer remember what).

Francine

Jul 23, 2011 2:24 AM in response to Whitecity

You are missing the point here. Apple have added something which is, to anybody except a computer novice, counter-intuitive. I've seen reviews comparing this to VMS's file versioning system. Fair enough, but even VMS let you decide for yourself when to save a file.


I can and will concede that in the long term this might be the way to go.


The problem today is that Apple are asking 75%+ of their existing user base to unlearn a deeply entrenched notion - "save your file!" - but have singularly failed to understand that the fact that files do not save themselves without permission has become a working assumption and part of the way I and many other people work.


I'm not against progress (or I'd still be using my ZX81) but Apple must understand that they are making changes that fundamentally affect the way I work and my productivity. Please give me an option to turn this off.


And yes, I've already posted my feedback to Apple.

Jul 23, 2011 5:33 PM in response to surfsoft

I have as well.


Having upgraded my laptop to Lion and discovering that along with Auto Save and Versions comes the elimination of the Save As command and the inability to turn these new features off I will be reinstalling Snow Leopard and definitely not upgrading our household's other machines.


The new scheme is cumbersome in it's insistence that I duplicate the document to give it a new name.


I do not like the idea that previous drafts are accessible from inside the document by anyone who might access my machine.


I do not like that new versions are created and saved without my say-so. I do not like that I am not asked to save/discard changes upon quitting.


In short, the 248 great new features provide me little reason to upgrade but the 249th and 250th features are deal-breakers. Until they can be turned off I will not use Lion.

Aug 2, 2011 12:48 PM in response to Cornel Swart

To all of you who are returning to Snow Leopard, which I would like to do also for most of the same reasons (plus others), I have a question. My iMac refuses to boot up with my Snow Leopard disk named as "Start up disk" or by the old method of Open Apple + "C" key. I'm stymied. Has anyone else encountered this problem? It seems as though Lion has made me a prisoner.

Aug 2, 2011 1:00 PM in response to magisterpat

Do you mean by starting up while holding the "C" key after inserting the SL disc?


If so, try starting while holding the Option key after inserting the disc; that should show the Startup Manager, which (possibly after a few moments) should show it.


If you're using a wireless keyboard, and neither works, try a wired one; sometimes the wireless ones aren't recognized and enabled quickly enough.


You can't install OSX on a disk with Lion on it; you'll have to erase the disk first.


Or restore from your Snow Leopard Time Machine backups.

Aug 8, 2011 6:50 AM in response to Cornel Swart

You can't disable it but you can manage it — i.e., delete all the version files that it keeps (and note, if you keep large files like the OP, you will want to do this, because Versions (unlike Autosave, which is not the same thing), keeps save full files like the original, so they will quickly eat up your HD).


See this tutorial for deleting versions:


http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/08/08/how-to-tame-versions/

How to disable Versions completely

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