Deceived by SketchUp for the first time in 20 years (2026 version not working)

[jean_lemire_1]

@colin

Could you try English?

Yes, I can. How can I specify English at installation?

[ateliernab]

Language Issue

On Mac, SketchUp includes all languages. You don’t need to change your region or language settings. Go into the system settings, in the Language & Region section, and look at the Applications part at the bottom. [image] Add SketchUp to the list, either by clicking the + button, or by dragging SketchUp into the list. After that you should get the popup menu, and have English as one of the languages you can select. Then open SketchUp, and it should be in English.

it’s in mac os’s preferences, sketchup contains all the languages it needs by default on mac

[colin]

In system settings, under language, you can add SketchUp as an application, and say that it should work in English:

There is a way to make SketchUp work in French, without using that settings. I am pretty sure we have something to fix, but if you would like to try these steps, you might be ok for now:

1. In Applications, SketchUp 2026, right-click, Show Package Contents.
2. Go into Contents, Resources.
3. Rename the en-US folder to anything you like.
4. Rename the en.lproj folder to anything you like.
5. Rename the fr folder to en-US.
6. Rename the fr.lproj folder to en.lproj.
7. Open SketchUp.

Hopefully you then see templates and can use SketchUp.

Have the DMG on standby, in case my steps mess things up even more!

[colin]

I’m guessing you’re using 2026 ok in French? Jean is in Canada, I wonder if that makes a difference?

[ateliernab]

yeah, using 26 in french, zero issues.

and I just tested, switching back and forth from english to french, works fine on my end.

[colin]

I see Canada has fr-ca, which I don’t see in any version of SketchUp.

Duplicating the fr folder and renaming it to fr-ca might do something.

[ateliernab]

@colin

I see Canada has fr-ca, which I don’t see in any version of SketchUp.

so mac os, being on a fr_ca computer, is maybe looking for the fr_ca files then ?

that’s odd. also odd that no other quebecois has come forward with the same issue.

[colin]

I tried being French Canadian, and had no problems with fr, or renamed fr-ca, so I’m not sure what’s wrong at the moment.

[jean_lemire_1]

@colin

In system settings, under language, you can add SketchUp as an application, and say that it should work in English:

I tried that but I see only one entry for Sketchup although I have 15 separate installations for SU from 5 to 2026. How can the system discriminates between all these?

@colin

There is a way to make SketchUp work in French, without using that settings. I am pretty sure we have something to fix, but if you would like to try these steps, you might be ok for now:

1. In Applications, SketchUp 2026, right-click, Show Package Contents.
2. Go into Contents, Resources.
3. Rename the en-US folder to anything you like.
4. Rename the en.lproj folder to anything you like.
5. Rename the fr folder to en-US.
6. Rename the fr.lproj folder to en.lproj.
7. Open SketchUp.

Hopefully you then see templates and can use SketchUp.

No success either, I am stil stuck on the welcome page that doesn’t show the templates.

[colin]

I asked others for suggestions, but no ideas helped. As the 2026 app doesn’t let you choose languages, that may be the important clue that something isn’t right. I made a bug report about it, SU-61164 in our system.

[bergdesign]

Colin,

I had this exact same empty Welcome window issue with the beta version, and it carried into the release version. After attacking the support team, I got a response from Jessica in the support team, and a complete clean removal of old app support folders seems to have fixed it for me. I’ll copy the contents of that clean removal below. As a test, have Jean turn off internet access while the empty Welcome window is open and visible, and SU should populate the window with the templates after a short delay. Also, if SU does populate the window and run, have Jean open the SU settings/preferences and try to access the Template section… I bet he gets another hard freeze.

Here’s the instructions Jessica gave me:

---

To completely remove SketchUp:

Open your Application folder and move the SketchUp Application to your Trash first.

Now, we want to remove the Application Support Folders, and the plist files. To delete the Application Support folders and plist files:

Click on Finder.
Click on the “Go” menu item.
Hold down the Option (Alt) button on your keyboard, then select the “Library” option in the drop-down list.

In the Application Support Folder, move all SketchUp folders to the trash

In the Preferences folder, move any SketchUp-related file ending in .plist to the trash (including all years):
(For Example)
com.sketchup.LayOut.2024.plist
com.sketchup.SketchUp.2024.plist

Finally, empty the trash.

Afterwards please reinstall SketchUp using the offline installer found here:

Offline Download | SketchUp | SketchUp

After the clean install, please do not add any extensions until you test SketchUp first to see if it is running as expected. If it is, then add your extensions back one at a time, only using the latest installer, and being sure the extension is listed as being compatible with the version you are using. Test after adding each extension to make sure an extension is not causing the issue.

---

[jean_lemire_1]

@bergdesign

As a test, have Jean turn off internet access while the empty Welcome window is open and visible, and SU should populate the window with the templates after a short delay

I tried that, no change, the Welcome Windows doesn’t populate and If I click on some buttons, I get a spinning beachball that doesn’t stop.

Then I followed all the above mentioned steps. I have already done all this except the file mentioned in the preferences folder. Now this one has also been deleted.

I reinstalled SketchUp from the offline installer dmg file that I downloaded using your link.

I still get the non responsive Welcome Page.