My Macbook keeps two versions of iWork after updating

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?

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.

To clarify the issue of deleting old versions of Pages and retaining only Pages 5 you need to be aware that Apple has removed over 110 features from Pages 5 and there are many bugs, some serious.

You can get rid of either version by simply dragging them to the Trash, but will lose the ability to access either the new Pages 5 format files, or have access to older version files and templates or .rtf or rtfd files.

To determine the consequences of keeping one version over another, read the Removed and Altered lists from freeforum

To obtain greater compatibility with Pages on iOS, Pages 5 has a much smaller subset of the features in Pages '09. If you migrate your files to Pages 5 it will be simpler to transfer files back and forth from your iPad to your Mac, but there will be a large number of things you will not be able to do in the new format.

The new format has the additional problem of being unreadable if there is a problem with the file. It also has many problems when Exported to Word .doc/x and .pdfs.

Because Pages 5 only runs in Mavericks and iOS 7 there will also be problems swapping files with other Mac users, not just PC users.

In addition Pages 5 files, transferred by 3rd party servers such as GMail, DropBox and Amazon, are damaged because these servers do not understand the special zipped packages that Apple is using.

Your choices are to go with Apple's new direction and accept the consequences, or stay with Pages '09 which works exactly as it always has, even in Mavericks, or look for current alternatives such as LibreOffice [free] or NisusWriter.

There are other alternatives arriving early next year, which will give more choices for low cost DTP users, but it will be difficult to match Pages' meld of DTP, Word Processing and Spreadsheet.

I along with most of the experienced support people in Apples Pages forums are choosing to keep using Pages '09, whilst keeping a copy of Pages 5 on our Macs. We are keeping an eye on developments with LibreOffice and alternative DTP software from Serif Software.

Apple will not be altering course and has only made minor corrections to Pages 5 in the year since it was launched. Users will simply have to wait to see what develops, but can carry on using the more functional and reliable Pages '09 until Apple no longer supports it in a future OSX or iOS.

"Will I be able to read my files in the future?". Unfortunately the record shows that if you are using any version of Pages you will have progressively more problems. then ultimately reach a point where Apple will no longer support the file format, and dead end it. Probably without warning as it has done previously and in particular with the current version last October.