I looked around to see how you can set Mac OS to open a file with a single click, but I couldn’t find a built in way, unless maybe if you are using a Magic Mouse and have that set to tap-to-click, in which case a single mouse press might come out as a double click.
Something you can try is to have a SketchUp scene open, with the window moved to the side, and then drag the DWG straight from the Downloads folder to the SketchUp window. That will act as an import and not an open.
Hi. Thanks for your response. Sorry for the delay but I’m doing two things at a time…starting the drawings and doing refinishing work outside before it gets too cold.
I checked the location of my download folder and it appears to be on my hard drive. It’s a standard Mac thing, I guess. The files are listed as .dwg files in the download folder. If I right click the .dwg file in the download folder, it automatically opens it in Illustrator, in other words, if I as much as touch the file; click, double click, right click; the same thing happens; it is opened in Illustrator. I tried changing the download preference in Safari to desktop, as ValmontR suggested and the weird thing was that it did download directly to the desktop, but reduced the file size to the point that only the main information was conserved (ie I lost the brick pattern and a lot of detail) rendering it useless. By downloading to the download file, I maintain the information but in Adobe Illustrator format. So far, saving the Illustrator file as a .dwg file then importing it from Sketchup seems to be the only way I can get it on Sketchup. Weird, but it works.
Now for something even weirder. The .dwg files that I download to my download files appear in the download file list that one sees when clicking on the download icon in the bottom window on the desktop, but when open the Finder window and click on the download file, none of my .dwg files are there, just some random files from way back. So I can’t, as RT Cool suggested, open it with…it’s not there. Now I know why my sons, both in computers, mock me and my Macbook!
Thanks for the suggestion. Please see me response to endlessfix
Thanks
Yeah, for some reason the dock version of Downloads is set to open on single click. Might be a preference setting - I’ve never looked. But it doesn’t matter in this case because you don’t open a dwg with SketchUp, you import it via the item on the file menu (or by running an extension if your version doesn’t include it natively.
Without watching you do it I’m not sure why you are seeing different contents when you open via Finder vs look in the dock. I’d take a close look at what path you are actually opening. I’ve never encountered that problem.
Hi Coli,
Tried that just now but the file gets reduced the same way as if I change the preferences in Safari and download directly to my desktop. Looks like the only way to conserve the information on the drawing is via Illustrator. Actually, it doesn’t really bother me anymore because I can keep identical drawings in Sketchup and Illustrator and switch back and forth to reference drawing notes, as Illustrator conserves them, but not Sketchup. Btw, is it normal that the layers shown in colour on CAD drawings and on Illustrator are always black on Sketchup though on the Tab (layer) list are designated by a colour?
Oops…Colin
You have to turn on color by layer/tag else they are all the default material.
SketchUp doesn’t seem to bring text in. I assume the developers were only interested in bringing in geometry from CAD files and didn’t bother with text translation. Translating text via DWG is problematic anyway between any two programs, even ACAD to ACAD sometimes, so I’m not surprised they didn’t bother trying.
Yes. It works better when importing into LayOut.
Ahhhh… the plot thickens. You are accessing your downloads folder via the dock. That would explain the single click opening and inability to move the file. It sounds like you have two download folders on your computer. Try this:
Right click on the download folder in the dock (bottom of screen) and choose Open “downloads” the last option in the list. This will open the folder in the finder, where you can access the file, from there you can drag it to the desktop if you want. Or… while holding down the command button click on the folder title “downloads” at the top of the window, this will reveal the folder pathway and show you where that folder is stored on your HD. Then you can navigate into that folder from inside of SketchUp and import the original file, which may be different than the one you have processed through Illustrator.
Revision to my comment an hour ago. I did find my .dwg drawings via Finder in the download list (they were way down the list and I think my brain is fried…alphabetical…duh), but if I try to import directly to Sketchup I lose 3/4 of the file size. For some reason, going via Illustrator is the only way I can conserve the whole file. Thanks for the suggestions!
oops, our comments crossed
OK, you loose file size or you loose information in the import? I’m glad you have your file working, you should not have to illustrator to successfully import .dwg.
Hi, Sorry that I gave you erroneous information about not finding my .dwg files via my Finder folder. That said, I tried what you suggested; I right clicked on the download folder on the dock, opened ‘downloads’, then dragged one of the .dwg files to the desktop. Then I imported that file to Sketchup. The file was reduced again to an unusable size, eliminating much of the information. If I try to import any of my .dwg files directly from the download folder the same thing happens; tiny useless file. The only way to preserve the drawing information is via Illustrator. Weird but true
I’m not sure I understand what you mean by this. Do you mean that the dimensions of objects in the model are too small, or that the file is missing contents? If you mean the former, you need to change the units options in the importer to match what was used in the original dwg. For example, if it was drawn in m and you import as cm it will be shrunk by a factor of 10.
If you mean the latter, there are some kinds of dwg contents that SketchUp cannot import. Text is one of them, as are objects created by CAD extensions.
Good question…let me try to figure that out…
The dimensions in the files are fine. The file is missing contents. The original drawing was in imperial and I put units as inches. I realize that Sketchup can’t import text and dimensions nor hatching etc., but why does the Sketchup import from the file downloaded via Illustrator have the dimension lines, brickwork etc., shown on the CAD and the Illustrator drawings, whereas the Sketchup import directly from the download file or the desktop hasn’t that information?
Please see answer to SBaumgartner… 
