Is there a universal way to disable auto updates with steam?

[Kermit]

My internet bill has been going up like crazy recently and am testing things out. I would like to disable auto updates on my library universally. I can't seem to find a place to do that within the settings. Is this an options and if not could it be added?

[Nx Machina]

Offline mode. Note: Make sure to launch each game once before you do this.

Copy and paste the folders of games you are not playing to an external hdd then uninstall them.

Developers can use version choice via branches to leave you on a specific version.

And finally developers force updates, Steam only delivers them.

[ChristOurLife]

Originally posted by Kermit:

My internet bill has been going up like crazy recently and am testing things out. I would like to disable auto updates on my library universally. I can't seem to find a place to do that within the settings. Is this an options and if not could it be added?

Well
Kind of
big picture & offline mode
:-)

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Kermit:

Is this an options and if not could it be added?

No and very unlikely.

[The End]

Originally posted by Kermit:

Is there a universal way to disable auto updates with steam?

Not really.
However if you go into "settings/downloads" there you see "Download Restrictions" set "Only auto-update games between" and "Limit Bandwith"
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2785417006
Turn them on and set them as short/low as possible, do not know if it will work, but worth a try imo.

[✨Saint✨]

Another way, is to only keep the games you play installed, the games you have not installed wont update. Just a thought.

[Jerry]

My personal strategy is to allow automatic updates only in the time between 3 and 4 in the morning. As I am rarely awake at this time (and, being a good boy, always turn off my computer when it's unused), it's as good as turning them manual.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Originally posted by Kermit:

Is this an options and if not could it be added?

No and very unlikely.

Steam had a general setting before, if i remember right.

Now what i do, i install a game and set it to only update when played.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Steam had a general setting before, if i remember right.

There was no such setting.

It was previously "Do not automatically update this game" and Steam would not download the update UNTIL you pressed play and then the update would download.

That description caused confusion.

It was RENAMED to "Only update this game when I launch it" to stop the aforementioned confusion.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Steam had a general setting before, if i remember right.

There was no such setting.

It was previously "Do not automatically update this game" and Steam would not download the update UNTIL you pressed play and then the update would download.

That description caused confusion.

It was RENAMED to "Only update this game when I launch it" to stop the aforementioned confusion.

Wasnt the setting in the steam settings, downloads before?
Back then it was the complaint that there is no per game setting.
(Most clients still have it that way. Its common.)

But the combination of both would be better. So you can choose the default yourself.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

There was no such setting.

It was previously "Do not automatically update this game" and Steam would not download the update UNTIL you pressed play and then the update would download.

That description caused confusion.

It was RENAMED to "Only update this game when I launch it" to stop the aforementioned confusion.

Wasnt the setting in the steam settings, downloads before?
Back then it was the complaint that there is no per game setting.
(Most clients still have it that way. Its common.)

But the combination of both would be better. So you can choose the default yourself.

The setting as the OP described has never been in steam ever. The per game setting was RENAMED once but the actual functionality of the setting never changed

I don’t even think there was a global setting before. The functionality was added in the per game settings, but not as a global parameter.

The only global parameter was the “allow background downloading”. Which could then be overridden on the game level.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Wasnt the setting in the steam settings, downloads before?
Back then it was the complaint that there is no per game setting.
(Most clients still have it that way. Its common.)

But the combination of both would be better. So you can choose the default yourself.

The setting as the OP described has never been in steam ever. The setting was RENAMED once but the functionality of the setting never changed

I somehow have the memory that payday 2 required to make that setting when there were updates without end. And that the setting was in steam settings.
Are you sure? If it was a per game setting, i would not have remembered it, as it would not have been a choice to make that has an impact.

[Kermit]

Based upon all of the comments and my own searching, I don't believe there is a global disable for auto updates.

For now I think Jerry's method might be the best way to avoid automatic updates.

Originally posted by Jerry:

My personal strategy is to allow automatic updates only in the time between 3 and 4 in the morning. As I am rarely awake at this time (and, being a good boy, always turn off my computer when it's unused), it's as good as turning them manual.

I created a discussion in Suggestions / Ideas shown below:
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/3278065083959193950/

Are there any other methods to contact Valve about this feature?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by Kermit:

My internet bill has been going up like crazy recently and am testing things out. I would like to disable auto updates on my library universally. I can't seem to find a place to do that within the settings. Is this an options and if not could it be added?

Sadly no it is not an option.

But it ought to be added. Thanks for creating the Suggestions thread for this.

Other than that, the best thing to do might be to just copy (or even outright rename) the game data folder somewhere else and then tell Steam to uninstall the games. That way you'll be able to keep your games from updating.

And everything will become uninstalled, and then whenever you wanna "reinstall" stuff, just move the data back and then tell Steam to install it. It should just find the game data.

But now, for every game you install...make sure you change the per-game update setting to only update on launch. (In case you use -no-browser, you can also reach this setting in Big Picture Mode.)

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

Offline mode. Note: Make sure to launch each game once before you do this.

Copy and paste the folders of games you are not playing to an external hdd then uninstall them.

Developers can use version choice via branches to leave you on a specific version.

And finally developers force updates, Steam only delivers them.

lol, dude, it's you again and you're so intent on insisting that developers force updates. Game developers don't force updates, so please stop repeating this incorrect information. It's Steam that takes away access to the Play functionality when an update is pending, and game devs can't change that at all. Besides, if there are updates pending to a branch, they get forced too.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Originally posted by Satoru:

The setting as the OP described has never been in steam ever. The setting was RENAMED once but the functionality of the setting never changed

I somehow have the memory that payday 2 required to make that setting when there were updates without end. And that the setting was in steam settings.
Are you sure? If it was a per game setting, i would not have remembered it, as it would not have been a choice to make that has an impact.

Yup, it's one of those Mandela Effect things.

I've seen it said here many times before.