Any idea how to disable Version?

Solution 1:

There has been a long discussion on the Discussions fora of Apple. A lot of people are complaining about it, but as far as I know, there isn't a solid solution at the moment.

It seems the app-maker can decide wheter or not to include the 'Versions' option. So the only guess I can make is to return to a previous version of the app. In case of TextEdit, it would mean you have to go back to Snow Leopard, which is clearly not a good option.

You can always try to tell Apple about your findings, maybe if a lot of people do so (and it looks like it), Apple will consider a new way of handling the versions.

Solution 2:

Yes, you can disable Versions globally, I described it here:

How to disable Versions in OS X Lion

I found a way to disable Versions (not Autosave) in a (hopefully) non-destructive reversible way: (re)move the SQLite database that Versions uses

Careful, this comes with absolutely no warranty and may break your system!

sudo mv /.DocumentRevisions-V100/db-V1 /.DocumentRevisions-V100/db-V1_off; sudo touch /.DocumentRevisions-V100/db-V1; sudo killall revisiond

If it worked you'll be notified e.g. in Textedit when you close a document:

That (probably) means that your document will still be automatically saved in certain intervals, but once you close it (or the program) you can only retrieve the latest version (and Time Machine backups, if available).

The changes can be undone with sudo rm /.DocumentRevisions-V100/db-V1; sudo mv /.DocumentRevisions-V100/db-V1_off /.DocumentRevisions-V100/db-V1; sudo killall revisiond

Edit 2012-04-04:

Versions (especially of Autosave) may still end up in ~/Library/Containers as nicely described in this answer.