I’ve noticed that Dorico doesn’t update like other programmes, it does a fresh install, not an overwrite like other programmes. I still have earlier versions on my PC and as I’m about to go for 3.5 I was wondering what we’re supposed to do with these old versions. Are they safe to uninstall, will that affect the new version, should we just leave them as they are though never used, will uninstalling them make project files unreadable?
Can’t find much about this, although I’m sure it must have been discussed at some point.
It’s quite possible to have several versions of Dorico operating peacefully side-by-side. There’s no danger of rendering files unreadable.
Just as long as one does not try to run them simultaneously, which confounds the Audio Engine.
Thanks, but do I need to uninstall them?
Yes, you can uninstall them. Each is entirely separate. Though make sure you don’t uninstall the HALion sound libraries.
I’m going to politely disagree with Ben on this one. Bugs creep in: for instance, Dorico 3.5 cobbles up staff labels above divisi staves, even in 3.1 projects. If you need that functionality, keep 3.1 running for the time being.
No, you don’t need to uninstall them, unless you really want free a bit of disk space. The biggest component of the Dorico installation is the sound samples, and there is only one copy of those for all the installed versions of Dorico.
Keeping old versions is useful, if you might need to work on an old project without the risk that a newer version will change the page formatting of something. Even if the new version is “better”, you probably don’t want to have to check every page of every part in case a page turn is no longer at the end of a page, and similar formatting changes!
Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that. Anyone know why Dorico does this? Most programmes just overwrite their code with new versions, Dorico seems to be unique in keeping all new installations separate.
I have enough disc space so it’s not a problem; just curious.
Rob explained it pretty fairly.
Dorico develops fast, and things can change significantly between versions. You might want your old score to not change.