Setting Software and File Preferences

In SketchUp, you can set a few preferences for how the software works overall and how files are saved.

To access these preferences, select Window > Preferences (Windows) from the menu bar. Most of these preferences are on the General pane, which you click in the sidebar on the left. As shown in the following figure, your options include Saving preferences at the top and Software Updates preferences at the bottom.

To access these preferences, select SketchUp > Preferences from the menu bar. You find most of these preferences by selecting General in the sidebar on the left. As shown in the following figure, your options include Saving preferences at the top and Software Updates preferences at the bottom.

Setting file recovery preferences

Here’s a quick look at the Saving options on the General preferences pane:

• Create Backup: By default, this option is selected because it helps you recover your work if anything happens as you’re creating a 3D model. When Create Backup is enabled, SketchUp automatically creates a backup file when you save a model. The backup file is the previously saved version of the file and lives in the same folder as the model file. For example, if your model file is hotel.skp, on Microsoft Windows, the backup is hotel.skb, and on Mac OS X, the backup file is hotel~.skp. On either operating system, you find both files in the same folder.
• Auto-save: This option is also enabled by default and helps you recover any changes you make to a model if you experience computer problems. When enabled, Auto-save tells SketchUp to automatically save changes to your model into a temporary file at specific time interval. By default, the interval is 5 minutes, but you can make that shorter or longer if you like. Just enter a new interval in minutes in the text box. Note that the auto-save file is preserved only if SketchUp suddenly crashes. If SketchUp closes successfully, the auto-save file is deleted.

Checking models for problems

The General preferences pane includes a section called Check Model for Problems, where you find the following two options:

• Automatically Check Models for Problems: This option is selected by default and enables SketchUp to check your model before it auto-saves, as mentioned in the preceding section. When this option is selected, SketchUp checks for problems when your model is loaded or saved. Because SketchUp offers so much flexibility for designing a 3D model, it’s important to check and fix major or minor issues and thus optimize your model’s performance. Although deselecting this option isn’t recommended, if you do so, you can check for problems manually by selecting Window > Model Info, selecting the Statistics panel, and clicking the Fix Problems button.
• Automatically Fix Problems When They Are Found: This option is deselected by default, so that when SketchUp finds a problem, you see a dialog box that asks whether and when you’d like to fix the problem. If you select this option, you don’t see the dialog box, and SketchUp fixes the problem behind the scenes.

Seeing Scenes and Styles warnings

Scenes enable you to save a view of your model, and styles impact how your model’s edges, faces, and background look. If you edit a style and then add a new scene, SketchUp can prompt you to decide whether you want to save your changes as a new style, update the selected style, or do nothing, as shown in the following figure. This warning can help you manage your style changes as you work with different scenes.

By default, the Warn of Style Change When Creating Scenes checkbox is enabled. If you deselect the checkbox, you don’t see the warning dialog box and are not prompted about how you’d like to manage your scenes and styles.

Selecting Software Updates preferences

Choosing default locations for files

In SketchUp, the Preferences dialog box includes a Files option in the sidebar on the left. The Files pane enables you to set the default save locations for models, components, materials, styles, and more.

If the folder where you want to save certain files doesn’t yet exist, create the folder using Windows Explorer or Finder first. After the folder is ready, follow these steps in SketchUp:

Tip: To quickly navigate to a default folder, click the Open This Folder icon () and the location opens in Windows Explorer or Finder.

The following table outlines how each option changes your default locations.

Changing SketchUp’s language

SketchUp is currently available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.

You can download SketchUp in any of the preceding languages. However, SketchUp reverts to English if your operating system’s language doesn't match the language version of SketchUp that you installed. For example, if you’ve downloaded the French version and your operating system is set to English, you see the English version of SketchUp.