What will happen if I pull the new pages out of my applic folder and try to use the 09 pages?

Question

I'm tired of fighting the new (less functional) Pages.  I created a 16 page newsletter in the 09Pages version but when I opened it today it had been transferred into the newer version and It had lost a bunch of data I had designed into it.  I had gotten instruction from an Apple support person on how to tell it to open in the old version so I quit the new version and opened the old one but it's not working according to her directive.  It keeps telling me I have to download a newer version to open it.  What would happen if I pull the new version out of the applications folder .... will that disable it temporarily and allow me to use only the old version?

Answer 1

Using Get Info to change all documents to open with Pages 4.3 doesn't work. It will work on individual files, but that could be a lot of files to reset.
If you want to keep Pages 5 there are a couple of methods to make Pages 4.3 the default. Just make sure you've reverted or converted any files to iWork '09 format first. If you don't want to keep Pages 5 you can delete it.
Method 1:
This was first posted by another user in this forum. I can't remember who or when. It has been "fine-tuned" by Peter Breis & I added a note for what works for me.
1. Move any new iWork apps in another clearly labelled folder. I created a new folder in Applications & named it iWork 13.
2. Menu > Apple > System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy > drag the above folder into the list
3. Move the new iWork folder into the trash (temporarily)
4. Select any Pages file in Finder > Menu > Info (cmd+i) > Open with: > Pages '09 > Change all
5. Retrieve the new iWork folder from the trash (right-click > Put back)
Pages 5 should no longer appear as a default App, and you won't have to keep a copy in a separate drive or dmg.
Important: Make a note of where and how Pages was installed for the next App Store update and temporarily move it back there before putting it away again in the folder concealed from Spotlight.
Method 2:
This is the one I used based on several posts here shortly after Pages 5 was released. I now use method 1 because I find it easier to apply updates when Apple releases them.
1. After I installed the new iWork updates I created a folder on an external drive & named it "other applications."
2. I then moved the new iWork apps to this folder & renamed the applications Keynote 6, Pages 5 & Numbers 3.
I have icons for two versions of Pages & Numbers (I rarely use Keynote) in my Dock. Even with two versions of Pages & Numbers running, double-clicking an existing file opens in Pages 4.3 or Numbers 2.3. This should also keep the Mac App Store from nagging you to update.