I’ve just downloaded the Viewer on my iPad Pro. I press the cloud icon at the top right, and select “Files on Device”. Here, under iCloud Drive, I can see all the skp files I’ve created on my Mac, but they are all greyed out.
What do I need to do to open them?
BTW, I have the same problem if I select Dropbox. I can see the skp files but not do anything with them.
Thanks,
Julian
Apologies for the trouble @julian7. We’ve been working through this issue over the past couple days and think we’ve found a workaround (albeit a tedious one).
The root of the issue is based on something iOS (& other operating systems) refer to as File Type Association. When any app is installed, the app tells iOS what file types it ‘owns’ and which file types it can ‘open.’ There’s a subtle, but important difference that is causing the issue you’re seeing.
The SketchUp Viewer app registers with iOS and appropriately tells iOS that it ‘owns’ the SKP format. Problem #1 is – so do other apps (not something we have control over, unfortunately). Problem #2 is – iOS offers ‘ownership’ up to whichever app claims it first.
What this means is that if you install a different app that claims ownership of the SKP format, prior to then subsequently installing the SUV app, we’re unable to wrestle ownership of SKP away from that other app (which the Files app apparently needs in order to allow you to open a SKP file from on Device, Dropbox, etc.).
After some trial & error we discovered a workaround, that we’ll admit is a bit lame, but so far is the best we have to offer. Begin by identifying other installed apps that you think might be claiming ownership of the SKP format, and systematically uninstall them, checking to see if the SUV app is then able to open SKP files via the Files app. For example, we followed this process on a test device & discovered that Evernote is one culprit (if you find others, please let us know). Once the offending app is uninstalled, SUV can claim ownership of the SKP format & retain ownership of the format even after the offending app is reinstalled. Meaning, it should then be safe for you to then reinstall whatever apps you had to uninstall, and the format issue should stay fixed. We’ll continue to explore this issue and look for ways to resolve it in a more straight forward way. In the mean time, I hope this info is helpful and that the workaround is effective.
Thanks. I’ve deleted the obvious culprits but still no success.
If I go the iOS Files app, and tap on a SketchUp file, it just opens a page with the file name and “skp file”. i.e. It doesn’t open an app.
When I press the Share button on the file, it offers to Copy it to:
Outlook
SketchUp
Drive
Dropbox
Fusion 360
LogMeIn
OneDrive
OneNote
PDF Expert
Silent Text
Sugarsync
Telegram
These seem to be my default destinations for copying any file.
I can copy the file to Sketchup, and it opens, which is a workaround. However, I don’t understand why I can’t open the same file directly from the SketchUp app.
Julian
Autodesk Fusion 360 is associated with .skp…
After uninstalling it all works fine again.
Thank you so much! That works for me too. I’ve uninstalled Fusion 360 and reinstalled it and skp files now open in SketchUp.
Julian
I’m reporting this bug to Apple since last December. They haven’t fix it yet 
This is a bug affecting other apps too, even default iOS Mail app.
How do I check which App may be the culprit by owning the .SKP extension before Sketchup on my iPad
Any Updates on this? I still have this greyed out files problem having uninstalled Autocad on the iPad as suggested previously.
Did you try other apps as well? Or only autodesk?
I also removed Aotocad360 as well. Signed out and re signed in, still grey out.
Charlie Davis | MDL
Actual one is called A360 - sorry
Also removed Autocad.
Charlie Davis | MDL
But no other apps like Evernote, Sightplan or any other of the millions of different apps?
As I understand @MikeTadros, there is no way for them to alter the ‘first come, first serve’ principle that is obviously more the responsibility of Apple.
Here is what I would do:
Remove the SketchUp app, send yourself a .skp file and when opening that mail, check which apps can open them, or share.
I was working on Charlie’s support case, and thought of something for him to try. That is, open iCloud Drive in Files and see if the same grayness was happening. If it wasn’t, try sending a file to SketchUp Viewer, to see if it was an app issue or an iCloud one.
Turned out that it wasn’t grayed out, but sending the file over to SketchUp Viewer worked, and also cleared the issue of files being grayed over there.
So, it could be that the symptom happens either when another app has taken over .skp, or if iOS thinks that no app can handle .skp. Sending the file over seems to force iOS to reconsider.
New employees don’t get a lot of vacation, he😃
I have the same problem. Uninstalling A360 fixes it but reinstalling it brings it back (i.e. A360 takes over .skp files)
A360 not critical for me at the moment so I can leave uninstalled. But could be in the future.
So, also got this issue on iPad but not on iPhone (which is weird cause more or less, I have same apps on both).
I believe the easiest way before deleting all apps you have, simply open Files, select the file you want to open in SketchUp by getting the popup menu and select Share and then, if SketchUp doesn’t show up, select More and then open in SketchUp.
App will ask if you want to save it locally (it won’t be sync with rest of your apps/systems).