I’m able to do most everything I need with the native SU tools. Sometimes, though, I know there’s an easier way to do something. There must be a way to ____ automatically. An extension is what I need!
But the Extension Warehouse doesn’t have a good index and search system (that I know of). Where can I find info about the basics? About the most useful extensions? About installation and use?
Joel
There are numerous “Most useful extension” and “Basic set of extensions” topics in this forum category and over at the SketchUcation “Plugins” forum.
So, 1st thing is to learn how to use the search feature (
at top right) in a Discourse engined forum.
All about installing and managing extensions in SketchUp …
Each extension is unique and should have its own help file or tutorials. Sometimes the tutorials are posted to YouTube, etc. Sometimes the product page in the Extension Warehouse for a specific extension will have use information.
It is up to you to do some research and poking around to find and read all information available on each extension you install (hopefully before posting a “How to use this …” type of topic. Ie, please don’t be lazy and make others do your due diligence.)
well… ask 
do you have things and processes you’d like to automatise or make simpler ?
Please don’t approach it this way. You’ll end up with way too many extensions that you’ll never use and clutter your UI (taking away modeling space)!
If you have a task that you do repeatedly and think to yourself: I wish that there was an easier/faster way to do this, that’s the time to go to the Extension Warehouse or SketchUcation and search for a suitable extension.
Just use keywords that make sense and you’ll find what you need…
It might be helpful to describe the type of models you typically produce. As an example my use of SU was creating concept models of museum exhibit spaces. The plugins I found useful may not be the same as those chosen by an architect or a landscape designer.