2021 Installer for MacOS is a piece of garbage

SketchUp
1

Please get some installer engineers on board that know what they are doing!

2

It would be more helpful if you could describe exactly what you believe is wrong and how it ought to be.

3

It’s pretty frustrating! Got these instructions from your help section:

  • If SketchUp still crashes, delete the SketchUp preferences file. ( Note: This step resets all of your preferences, including references to the location of materials and components you’ve added.)

    1. Quit SketchUp.
    2. Open a Finder window.
    3. In the left pane, click your user name.
    4. In the right pane, click the “Library” folder.
    5. In the “Library” folder, click the “Preferences” folder.
    6. In the “Preferences” folder, find the SketchUp preferences file(s) and drag it to the Trash. The file can be one or more of the following:

com.sketchup.SketchUp.2013.plistcom.sketchup.LayOut.2013.plistcom.sketchup.StyleBuilder.2013.plist
… blah blah blah…

I’ve always used the standard SketchUp installers and the instructions above on a 1 year old MacBook Pro show these instructions completely devoid of reality. I’m on Catalina 10.15.7.

I’ve attempted to install 2021 3x now since 5am EST

I’ve uninstalled 2020, rebooted computer, re-installed 2021 3x to only have it crash / just disappear (BTW, each time the verifying process took over 8-10 minutes to run and never completed… it would just disappear from my force quit window.) Just reinstalled 2020 successfully so I can get some work done.

I’ve written or have had written hundreds of software installers in the past 25 years so I know what I’m talking about. My new MacBook Pro is a standard machine with plenty of free space and RAM available.

This installer HAS NOT been tested properly.

r

4

Do you know that SketchUp 2021 for Mac doesn’t come with an installer?

There is an issue we’re looking into where the Mac version will crash when you try to choose a material. It only affects people who are running SketchUp from somewhere other than in Applications, or if a different user installed SketchUp, then you try to use SketchUp while logged in as someone else.

See my post here, in case that applies to you:

1 Like
5

This file doesn’t exist on my computer, in this path: ~/Library/Preferences/com.sketchup.SketchUp.2021.plist …
perhaps that is the problem? Even after uninstalling 2021 and reinstalling 2020 there is no such file? Where else could it be?

6

OK, strangest thing I now notice. I drug the application into the Applications folder as instructed. Nothing happens. (either version)

Next, I launch sketchup by clicking on it inside the sketchup folder in my Applications folder or from the Dock Icon.
Sketchup launches and goes thru the verification process. It also mounts the Sketchup folder in my Finder window under: LOCATIONS as a drive, like an installer again.

Even if I move the downloaded Sketchup folder with the .dmg file onto my desktop, it still launches as a drive in my finder window.

It only launches after the first time rebooting my machine and after the first time, it always gets hung on the verification process? I can see it in my Force Quit window and have to kill it, reboot the machine and relaunch to use it.

I am the only user on the machine and am the designated Admin.

What gives?

7

Just to clarify, when the installer opened a window showing a SketchUp icon and an Applications folder icon, did you drag the SU icon onto the Applications icon in that window, or did you drag the SU icon onto the Applications folder in Finder?

8

I drug the SU icon into the Applications folder on my Applications Dock menu NOT in a finder window?

A related question: Do I have to upgrade to Big Sur to install 2021?

9

That’s not the right way. In the window that the installer opens, drag the SU icon onto the Applications folder icon in that same window. You may not like it (and I won’t argue that it is a good design), but the Mac installer has worked that way for a long time.

10

Never knew you could do that with any application installer?

I’ve owned Mac’s since 1986 and EVERY application I’ve ever installed on a Mac ( at least in recent history) allowed an installation by dragging the app icon from the install window into the Dock Bar “Applications” folder. Hmm!

I’ll try that next.

Should I install 2021 onto Catalina or does it need to be Big Sur? I usually wait until the 2nd or 3rd edition of a major OS upgrade.

11

2021 runs fine on Catalina.

12

Thank you.

13

It sounds like you dragged the SketchUp 2021 folder as an alias.

A slower approach would be to select the SketchUp 2021 icon in the installer disk image window, Command-C to copy, then double-click on the Applications alias in the same window, and Command-V to paste.

14

Seem to work with this method now, so I guess I need to keep the actual ‘sketchup’ file outside of the folder that contains sketchup, layout, and style builder. Now that I have a copy of sketchup in application folder. Should I delete the sketchup application in the sketchup folder?

15

I was saying to copy the entire SketchUp 2021 folder, not just SketchUp.

If you look at the SketchUp 2021 folder in Applications, which of these two images does it look like? Mainly, does it have the curved arrow in the icon?

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