Indeed, WinBoard has this problem of not being easy to downgrade to a previous version that has fewer options. (Which can be run by multiple WinBoard instances in parallel, by just clicking the tourney file.)
![chess edit bin file chess edit bin file](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wha2A.gif)
Note that it is not only the Load Engine dialog that is new it also has a Tournament Options dialog that you can use to run tournaments with more than two engines. Perhaps I will do the same in a future WinBoard beta. I agree that the need for this edit button is unclear In fact, in the corresponding XBoard beta, I already redesigned all these dialogs to be always editable, without Edit button, and gave them a 'Save Changes' button in stead, so you can save the changes without closing the dialog. Again, this is by design, and has nothing to do with it being a beta version. To save the edited results, you just have to press 'OK'. If you use the Edit Tags or Edit Comment menu item, it directly pops up the windows in editable mode, with the button grayed out. If their display is read-only, (when they popped up spontaneously) the Edit button is active, and as soon as you press it, it gets grayed out, because you don't need to press it anymore. (Look, for instance, at the Comment or Tags dialogs the stable version has. I don't know why, but WinBoard has always done it that way. That the edit button is grayed out is because you are already in Edit mode. It will still be that way 10 years after we released it as stable version. This has nothing to do with it being a beta. The idea is that you tell WinBoard the name of the book you want to edit (in the Common Engine dialog), and then edit it. (And even if it did, there are two engines. With the 'Engine Menu' (I suppose you mean the 'Engine #1/2 Settings' dialogs), you communicate directly with the engine, WinBoard knows nothing about it.
![chess edit bin file chess edit bin file](https://en.chessbase.com/portals/all/2018/tech-products/how-to-embed-tools/05-embed-PGN.jpg)
They might even have a format specific for the engine (e.g. What else did you expect? The Engine books are not accessible to it only the engine knows what they are and where to find them. Indeed, it edits the book in the Common Engine menus.