Prior to the Mac App Store you could download multiple versions of Xcode from the iOS Dev Center and specify the destination folder during install, which made it quite easy to manage more than one version of Xcode. No more, installations from the Mac App Store will overwrite an installed version of an app with the latest release.

Despite my better judgement, I am always one to try out a new software release. With that said, having a stable stable release within reach is a good thing when you need to get some real work done.

Case in point, Xcode 4.6 was just released. There are some nice new features, including full support for iOS 6.1 SDK. However, before I migrate all development to 4.6 I think I’ll keep 4.5.2 around for awhile.

This tip will show one way to manage multiple versions of Xcode, I assume this is just one of many options, if you have another approach, please post a comment.

Multiple Versions of Xcode

Step 1 - In the Applications folder in Finder, use ⌘-D to create a copy (duplicate) of Xcode

Step 2 – From the Mac App store, install the latest version of Xcode

You can see the update in progress if you start Launchpad:

Step 3 – When the installation is complete, rename the copy (duplicated version) to something that is meaningful to you. For example, I ran through these steps recently and renamed the copy to the latest version I had installed before the update, Xcode 4.5.2