I have updated the iWork applications from '09 to 2013. After updating, I do not know why Apple doesn't automatically delete the old version. So now, I have two versions on my Mac.
What's the best way to uninstall or delete the old version – should I just simply move it to Trash or use some uninstall application?
Would there be any effect with my old iWork files if I delete the old iWork version?
Best Answer
Since the apps have been rewritten, there have been some features missing from the new iWork that was in iWork '09. In addition, documents created with older iWork apps will be permanently updated to the new one, and the new files can remove certain features that existed in the documents created using iWork '09. Due to this, if you need to share files with people who are still on the old iWork that make use of such features, then you would need the old version of iWork to do this. This has brought about the opposite question…
When opening one of my files that I created using the iWork '09 Pages in the new Pages, some things were broken:
iWork '09 can be uninstalled simply by deleting the iWork '09 folder, however for a more complete uninstallation you can use an app such as AppCleaner to remove the preference files and other associated files, however beware that using such an app will probably not be able to tell the difference between the two versions, so any settings that you have set in the new iWork apps will be deleted if you attempt to clean the associated files. If you installed iWork '09 through a retail CD, the app data is not sandboxed, and you can tell whether the data is related to iWork '09 or the new iWork by checking the location of the files - if they are in the sandbox, they are for the new iWork. Unfortunately, this doesn't work if you installed iWork '09 through the Mac App Store. If you don't care for your settings in the new iWork (i.e. you haven't run it yet) then there should be no problems running AppCleaner since there should be no preference files for the new iWork yet.