How to stop update notifications for Pages, Keynote, Numbers, etc.

Here's an "incomplete" fix. Update and immediately "park" the new apps onto an external hard drive. To do this, create a folder on your external hard drive named "Applications," go ahead and update in the app store, and immediately drag the three or four apps (the new Pages, Keynote, iMovie, and Numbers) from your computer's "Applications" folder onto the "Applications" folder you just created on your external drive. Now your computer no longer has these new versions of the apps on it. Disconnect your external hard drive, and your current and old Pages etc. files will continue to open in old, iWork '09 format, as always. [[Note: you may not need to disconnect the external hard drive; I'm just being safe. Just make sure that when you open a Pages/etc. file that it opens in old Pages (iWork '09), which you'll be able to tell by how it looks on the screen. If it opens in the new one, quit and don't save. Then, single click the file's icon, select "Get Info" (command-i), and choose "Pages" (with the '09 icon) (or Keynote/Numbers/etc.) under "Open with," and then select "Change All" so that all your Pages files will then open with '09 and not 5.0.]] Then, whenever Apple has an update (every few months) for those new Pages/Keynote/etc. apps, your app store badge will alert you (the annoying alert), saying that they cannot install those apps automatically. When that happens, simply connect your external hard drive and the alerts will go away and the app store updates tab will not show those apps as needing an update.

I believe what is happening in this procedure is that your computer is automatically downloading the new Pages/etc. updates in the background, but is not installing them without your permission. Then, when you reconnect your external hard drive, it automatically connects up with it without you doing anything else but connecting the external hard drive.

Not sure about all the tech stuff here, but this procedure should solve the update-badge-every-24-hours problem by making it only occur when a new update happens; then, just connect your external hard drive, and it goes away. Meanwhile, you can continue to use iWork '09 versions in utter bliss. 🙂

Update: if you have dragged the new Pages etc. to an external hard drive and off of your computer (as described in my first post), when you get an update notice in the App Store (via badge), hook up your external drive to your computer, and then receive the downloads. Your computer will download and install the updates to your external drive and leave your iWork '09 apps on your computer alone. You'll continue then to have up-to-date 2013-version Pages, Keynote, etc. on your external drive, but not on your computer. This downloading and installing with your external hard drive attached will mean you haven't messed with your '09 iWork stuff and that your App Store app in your dock on your computer won't have a bunch of numbers on it of things you "still need" to download.

I agree whole heartedly.

Do I need to pay for a new Pages upgrade just to open old docs-- old being a relative term, I think anything in the last 3 years as new.

lise