How can I prevent TextEdit from saving previous versions of a text file? I've got a simple text file that I keep in Dropbox for holding important notes.  I've name it so it shows up at the top of the directory, so that it is quickly accessible from anywhere - on my Mac, tablet, phone, etc.

The problem is, when I edit it on my Mac, TextEdit appears to be saving previous versions using some weird file naming scheme.  For instance, my file is called 000-Inbox.txt, and I see lots of files with names like 000-Inbox.txt.sb-abc123cb-XaedKL.  Currently I am counting twenty-two (22) (!) of these "backup" files.  This really messes up my directory listing; now all the other files which are supposed to be easily accessible at the top of the listing are pushed down out of site on my mobile devices.  My directly looks unsightly as well.  I don't want or need these files: Dropbox saves previous versions anyway, now it presumably is saving previous versions of previous versions which is just silly.

I've tried deleting these files, but it is rather a chore to have to delete a file every time I save a file.  Is there some way to disable this previous version saving?  

Another issue it presents is if I change the file on another device, I have to close the file and reopen it, because reverting to the previous version is going to the previous version TextEdit has saved, not the latest version on disk.
TextEdit and other app have a auto save feature enabled.

You can disable that in System Preferences:

Open the General preferences and enable the "Ask to keep changes", so it wont auto save, but ask you if you want to save it. This one would be system wide.

To do it only for TextEdit:

To disable autosave in TextEdit.app, run the following command in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit ApplePersistence -bool no


To turn it back on replace the no with yes.