HELP: missing references in Layout

Hey there,

I’ve been encountering a missing reference issue in Layout. I’ve scoured the forums and youtube to try to resolve it and am at my wits end.

Every time I open Layout, I check the references folder and my main (and only) model file shows in red as missing. It links to a random reference file in the Layout temp folder. It does not update when I save my sketchup changes.

My file: NBS0001_Tender_V3

The red reference file in document references: 847828017_NBS0001_Tender_V3_49519

Red reference file Path: /Users/mymac/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2024/LayOut/working/LAYOUT.9iTGbK/ref/847828017_NBS0001_Tender_V3_49519.skp

What I’ve tried:

  • Relinking the reference to my main file in document references. Either it does nothing and remains missing, or it works and then when I restart Layout it is missing again
  • Deleting the reference file from the Layout temp working folder and relinking to my main file. Again, it either doesn’t link or it does and when I restart Layout it creates a new temp file that is marked as red/missing
  • Send to Layout from SketchUp, then copy the viewport over to my Layout file. This immediately links to the ref missing reference despite being a brand new viewport sent straight from my live model

I truly have no idea what to do here. I have an important deadline on this project and feel pretty helpless.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. Can share files as requested.

Thanks,
Tom

Please do share the files. I exect they’d be too large to upload directly so upload them to Drop Box and share the link.

FWIW, those references aren’t random.

Where are you saving the files while working on them?

Hey Dave, thanks for your help.

Here is a wetransfer link (I don’t have dropbox)

Many thanks,
Tom

Hi Dave, sorry I missed your question in your last response. I save my files here:

Sketchup file
/Users/mymac/Documents/W–E/projects/project name/NBS0003 – DD:Tender:CC/02_Tender:CC/working files/sketchup/

Layout file
/Users/mymac/Documents/W–E/projects/project name/NBS0003 – DD:Tender:CC/02_Tender:CC/working files/layout/

You’re welcome, Tom.

OK, so the first thing I see in LayOut is that you have two references to what should ostensibly be the same SketchUp model file. One of them would be the result of sending to a new LayOut file and then copying from that file to the new one.


The highlighted reference is for the viewport I have selected on the page.

Again, where are you saving the .skp file while working on it and before inserting it into LayOut? When a reference file is shown as missing that means LayOut can’t see the file in the directory in the path. LayOut then indicates it as missing and reverts to looking at the embedded copy. Of course any changes you make to the original file will not carry over to LayOut because LayOut can’t find that file. Are you saving the .skp file to a cloud location or to a network drive?

Another thing I note is that for the selected viewport you’ve overridden all of the scene properties. Note the dark gray background for those property categories in the SketchUp Model panel on the right.


This means that even when you update the reference, none of those properties will update in the viewport. Best practice would be to avoid overriding the Camera properties, anyway.
Tender_33 NBS_V2 relinked.layout (9.3 MB)
Here I’ve relinked both references to the same .skp file that you shared. In this file I did not reset the Camera properties but below is the result of doing so.

It looks to me as if you double clicked into the viewport and panned the camera to show the model. When I drag the left and top edges of the viewport out, I can see the model.

Instead of clicking into the viewport to pan the camera, you should drag the edges of the viewport to show the part of the model you are interested in. Doing so won’t modify the Camera properties. Here I’ve done that for this viewport.

There’s no need to modify the Camera properties for the viewports.

Is that really on the internal drive or is it an iCloud location?

Internal drive on my mac

1 Like

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the detailed response. I’ll try to address you points in order.

1. Two references for one file: This may have been me trying a ‘Send to Layout’ fix just before I reached out to you.
2. Saving files: I save files locally on my computer in standard folders
3. Scene properties: No doubt my process is riddled with mistakes. I’m self-taught and have used Sketchup for 15 years with a bit of an accretive process of learning new skills. I’ll look into setting it up properly in SU rather than overriding.
4. Viewport: I generally do click and drag the viewport crop, but yesterday I couldn’t find the model anywhere and so ended up needing to double click to locate it, then reverted and adjusted the crop.
5. The file that you provided - Tender_33 NBS_V2 relinked.layout - when I download and open it the same issue persists. See loom video here demonstrating this. Was I meant to do something specifically with your file to get it to work?

Cheers,
Tom

Yes. That would be typical of copying the viewport after sending to a new LO file.

That’s good.

Understood. Overriding style and tag properties can be very useful but from seeing loads of LayOut files from others, I would say overriding Camera properties usually leads to headaches and lost time. Fortunately you don’t have a bunch of dimensions and labels anchored to the model in your viewports.

Based on the result of resetting the camera it looks like you did a some panning while the viewport was opened for editing.

I would suggest when setting up your scenes in SketchUp that you center the model in the model window. That will make the model easier to find in the viewport and you won’t have to click into the viewport at all.

Sorry. I forgot to add the following.

When you open my version of your LO file the reference will show as missing because it’s looking for the SketchUp file on my computer. LayOut on your computer can’t see my computer (fortunately). So after opening the LO file, right click on a viewport and choose Open with SketchUp. Then save the file. After that, in References, relink and choose the file you just saved.

By the way, make sure you are avoiding opening the backup version of the SketchUp file. That’s the one with a ~ at the end of the file name.

Hey Dave,

Sorry to say the issue is only partly resolved. Probably human error from my end. Essentially, it seems that your fix works, but only if the layout file and sketchup file are in the same location.

If I move them to their project folders then the link breaks and won’t allow me to relink.

See the video here for clarification. I run through your steps, keeping both files on my desktop. Close layout then reopen and my SU file remains linked.

Then I test moving the LO file to the correct project layout folder and the SU file to it’s own sketchup project folder. Close, reopen and the link is broken. When I go to relink, it won’t allow me to.

If you move the SketchUp file to a new location you will have to relink the file in LayOut. If that folder location is on the internal drive there shouldn’t be anything preventing you from relinking to the file. Something is very strange about the path after you’ve moved the LO file to the LayOut folder. There seem to be many more folder levels than there ought to be.

I wonder if @adam has any insight. Maybe he’ll look in tomorrow when he gets to work.

Hey Dave,

It’s an 8-layer path for both:

Documents > W-E > projects > project name > project stage > working files > sketchup > the file

Documents > W-E > projects > project name > project stage > working files > layout > the file

Is there a maximum?

OK.

What happens if you put the LayOut file and its associated references in the same folder? My practice has been to always keep all references for a project in the same folder as the LayOut folder. That shouldn’t be strictly necessary but I’ve found it the easiest for my organization.

After I had tried them in separate folders the link broke. So then I moved them to the same folder and tried to relink, and that failed. Both files in the same folder and it wouldn’t let me relink at all.

The only time it worked was when both files were fresh on my desktop. LO file freshly downloaded and SU freshly saved. This is a solution but not a sustainable one.

There’s really something wrong with this on your machine.

Is the folder in Documents really called W-E? I wonder if the hyphen could be a problem. At this pointnI’m grasping a little since I can’t see your computer directly.

I’ve gone through and:

  • Simplified my folder structure, though it seems silly LO can’t recognise a path more than 6-7 folders deep. I can’t fathom this being an issue
  • Renamed W-E to ‘architecture’

Problem still persists. Not much I can do. Hopefully @adam has some ideas.

Agreed and I wouldn’t think it should be an issue. That said, I normally don’t have anywhere near that level of nesting of folders.

Out of curiosity, what happens if you start a new LO file with the SketchUp model and save that in the same location with a name like “Test”. Do you get the same “Missing” thing when you quit and reopen the LO file?

I think we’ve figured it out.

I just tried to save the file in the folder I usually do

Documents > W-E > projects > project name > project stage > working files > layout

Wouldn’t let me even save.

Documents > W-E > projects > project name > project stage > working files

Won’t let me.

Documents > W-E > projects > project name > project stage

Won’t let me.

Documents > W-E > projects > project name

Let’s me save. There is a failure at the project stage level folder, titled NBS0003 – Tender/CC. So I just removed the / symbol and tried to save in my standard layout folder and it worked.

Just going to try now to relink my working file as normal and see if the link holds, bear with me.

Oh boy! I didn’t even spot the slash. That would be the problem. You can’t use a slash in a folder or file name.