Multiple installations of Stata

Before installing the latest version of Stata for Mac, we recommend you remove any older versions of Stata from your computer. When there are multiple versions of Stata installed, you can't be sure which version of Stata that OS X will launch when you double-click on a Stata file from the Finder.

When installing Stata, the Installer will detect if another version of Stata is installed in /Applications/Stata and will prompt you for permission to remove it. If you prefer to manually remove an older version of Stata, drag its folder to the Trash and empty the Trash.

Sometimes you may want to keep multiple versions of Stata installed on your Mac—maybe you're working with a colleague who is still using an older version of Stata. In such a case, before you start installing the latest version of Stata for Mac, rename your existing Stata folder (we recommend that you simply add the version number to the Stata folder name). For example, if you currently have Stata 11 installed and want to install Stata 12, first rename the existing Stata folder to "Stata 11". After installing Stata 12, you can optionally rename the new Stata folder to "Stata 12".

If you want to open a Stata file from the Finder and you have multiple versions of Stata installed, then right-click on the Stata filename and use the Open With menu to select the version of Stata you want to open the file with. If Stata is already running, you can double-click a Stata filename in the Finder to open it in the currently running version of Stata.