How to update your Steam games manually or automatically, or update to a beta version of a game

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You can update games on Steam in several ways.

• You can update Steam games automatically or manually.
• Steam usually updates your games for you as patches are released by the developer, and downloads the updates automatically.
• You can also choose to manually download a beta version of a game.
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Steam will default to updating games automatically as content is released for them. If you live with capped internet, or if Steam is running slowly, you may have disabled automatic updates.

Or you may want to update into a beta release of a game, which Steam will not do by default.

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Here's how you change your update settings, or update your games into beta versions.

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How to update Steam games

1. Open the Steam application your PC or Mac and click "Library" at the top of the window.

2. Right-click the game in your library that you want to change the update settings of, and select "Properties" from the drop-down menu.

Ross James/Business Insider

Right-click the game you want to update and select "Properties."

3. Select the "Updates" tab.

4. If you want the game to update automatically when an update is released, select "Always keep this game up to date" from the automatic updates menu. If you want to choose when the game is updated, choose "Only update this game when I launch it."

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The drop-down menu is the first option under the Updates tab.

5. If the update you want to install is an alpha or a beta, and not the current public release, then open the Betas tab (if one is available for this game).

6. Open the drop-down menu and select the alpha or beta version you'd like to opt into. You may need to enter a code.

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The alpha and beta version selection. Some games will only offer one, others such as "Rimworld" will offer many.

7. Steam will begin updating your game to the latest version you've selected.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• How to redeem a Steam gift card code to add funds to your Steam Wallet, or download a specific game

• You can refund games you buy on Steam, but there's a time limit - here's how to get your money back

• How to add friends on Steam in 3 different ways, so you always know when they're ready to play

• 'How much is my Steam account worth?': How to figure out how expensive your game library is, and how much time you've spent playing

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