We’ve got a .layout file which we aren’t able to open in any version of sketchup we’ve attempted. We’ve tried going through the process of converting this file to a .zip, unzipping, rezipping, and updating the extension but am not having any luck. If we could get help either identifying what caused this file to become corrupt or how to fix it (so it’ll open) it’d be greatly appreciated. Note that my experience/knowledge with Sketchup expired about 14 years ago so buckle up!
Have you tried opening the backup copy of the LayOut file?
I opened the embedded copy of the .skp file. It opened fine. I did my usual cleanup. Fixed incorrect tag usage, purged unused, and resized the excessively large textures in hopes that would help. It reduced the file size by about 45% but it didn’t help with LO file. Maybe @adam would have some time to look at your file.
Thanks for the prompt digging and response Dave! I hadn’t previously tried to open the Backup file (honestly I didn’t realize that existed until now) but just did and that opens fine. It’s got a time stamp that is about 1.5 hours behind the main file but would be a much better move than starting from scratch. I was able to recover a previous version of the main layout file (days prior) which also opened w/o issues but that backup file has promise. If possible, we’d still like an understanding of what is actually causing this issue so we can prevent this in the future so any insight is greatly appreciated!
LayOut cannot read the version information for this particular file, and that’s why it refuses to open the file. It looks like this is caused by an empty documentProperties.xml which stores the version information. If you unzip this LayOut file and compare it to an uncorrupted LayOut file’s documentProperties.xml, you will see what is missing.
I’m not sure how that file failed to be populated upon document saving. If you want to recover the changes you made in the 1.5 hours since your most recent backup, you can copy the documentProperties.xml from your recovered backup into the unzipped corrupted file.
I was able to fix the file with the direction you all provided, much thanks! It doesn’t sound like this file was ever worked on or saved anywhere other than our company server so not sure why that occurred but seems we are in the clear now.
It’s generally not wise to work on files saved directly to the server or other remote location. There have many reports of fatally corrupted SketchUp and LayOut files by users here on the forum. Best practice would be to keep the LayOut file and all of its references (.skp files along with images, spreadsheets, etc.) in a folder. Copy the folder to the local (internal) drive before working on any of the files. After saving changes locally, copy it back to the server.
I would also suggest saving both the SketchUp model and the LayOut file to Trimble Connect to have an additional backup.
Thanks again Dave! Our firm operates from remote desktops (vmware) so everything we do is saved and worked on from our server(s). I’ll let this user know of this potential limitation as they may just need to adjust their process and install locally. Thanks again for all your guys assistance with this!
I hope they can get things sorted. I’d hate for them to end up with SketchUp model files that consisted of nothing but zeros. It’s happened to quite a few users.