oh gosh!! No, no - if it’s not in use it’s got to go. I much rather have an organised component library for future “easy” insertion if necessary. Maybe it’s just a personality thing.
1 Like
I’m confused. An organized component browser is exactly what I’m after, but SU offers almost zero functionality to do that. You said “if it’s not in use it’s got to go.” But you then said you want things organized for “future easy insertion”. That suggests you may be keeping components around that are not yet in use–which the purge command would indiscriminately sweep away.
Everyone works differently, but don’t you ever swap components around, try different things, and then sometimes circle back to a previous choice? I do this a lot with fixtures and furnishings as I’m developing a floor plan. My brainstorming process involves lots of iterations–a holdover from my sketchpad days.
Regardless, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for SU to provide check boxes when purging. Basically, when you use the purge command, check boxes would appear next to all components that are not in use. From there you could purge them all, or go through your list and deselect items you want to keep. Tons of programs offer this functionality when deleting batches of data, so I’m pretty sure this isn’t an obscure need.
1 Like
You don’t have to keep your components in your model file. You can save your components in a folder and show that as a collection in the component browser.
2 Likes
Yes, I’m aware. And fortunately there are workarounds, but that doesn’t excuse it’s lack of functionality. I know everyone has their pet peeves, but this is a central repository of SU’s most critical elements. I remember reading SU veterans complaining about it 5 years ago yet nothing has been done. I really like SU, but there hard core “fans” in these forums who seem to tacitly accept, then defend shortcomings that are truly subpar for a professional application at this level.
The component browser is organized. To organize it further is up to you. Putting things into folders is no workaround. It is the basic way of sorting things in a computer. When you expect that SketchUp organises your things automatically, you expect it to read your mind. The Warehouse, too, has already a “Collection” feature where you can store the links to your frequently used objects without storing everything in your hard drive. What else do you expect?
1 Like
Not exactly, what you want, but close…
(Did not tried personally)
Purge Tool | SketchUp Extension Warehouse
…one of the…
Well, it’s something, but it’s not what I’m looking for since it doesn’t allow for the review and de-selection of individual components. Furthermore, the shortcomings of the component browser–which are many–should be solved natively.
Seriously? Have you worked in other programs? It is absolutely devoid of basic functionality that are central in other programs that require management of lots of elements, and have been for years! I didn’t ask for it to do anything for me “automatically”, I’m asking that it be able to do a few basic things MANUALLY. Furthermore, I shouldn’t have to move items into separate folders to protect them from purging when the program should indicate what it is being purged. You’re defending a browser that can’t even be sorted. Is this 1995???
You are right. But it goes through all the “purgeable” components and asks if you want it or purge or not.
The reason that I’m hard core fan: If can be solved by Extension, not necessarily need to do it natively. This behavior keeps the core app simple, and very flexible.
But I respect your opinion, perhaps the native devs already noted your wish… 
BTW (again not exactly what you wish…)
It is also nice tool to organize your collection:
ComponentFinder – FlexTools
Huh?! Please explain.
As for extensions vs. native, I’ve been loosely following such arguments and understand and appreciate the philosophy, but things like the component browser, outliner, and tags ARE core functions and should be better integrated and a basic set of tools.
extensions vs. native:
I’m not against you. (not really ). But I’m of the opposite opinion. I just try to give you some other way to do…
3 Likes
Thanks for going through the trouble of demonstrating that. When you said “it goes through all the purgeable components…” I thought “it” was referring to the component browser, so I was confused. Still, it’s not what I’ve come to expect based on other programs and is just another workaround for functionality that should be built into the purge function that already lives in the component browser.
I did understood what you want. Currently that is not the case. That is why offered other things, which even can be better for some people…
“Fan sentence”:
Other program is other program. SketchUp is SketchUp.
(I don’t know if you follow the Mandalorian? )
I get it, and I’ve heard that here before. However, while I can agree to a point, it is also dismissive of best practices that others are incorporating that become commonplace and therefore expected. This is easily seen in UI design–you have to adhere to certain conventions or your product is doomed. We all expect things like context clicking, highlighting, menu organization and drop downs to work a certain way. I think this goes for certain functionality as well depending on the nature of the program. To dismiss improvements or changes because “SketchUp is SketchUp” is a potentially dangerous attitude for a developer to adopt.
**I was really disappointed in the Mandalorian and haven’t followed it after the first season. I couldn’t get into any of the characters and grew tired of all the fight scenes. Sorry! 
Like the quote from The Mandalorian. “This is the way”, a bit “extreme” opinion. Mine is too. But that doesn’t mean I’m completely satisfied with Sketchup. It is also developed by people. There is room for improvement, and there are some anionig mistakes, or many requested missing bug fixes…
However, at times like this I think how much more “fun” Sketchup causes than headaches.
1 Like
It’s always good to zoom out and take stock of numerous strengths when focussing on faults. That’s a necessary perspective for emotional health. I, too, really enjoy working in Sketchup. I’ve swallowed many of my early preconceived notions of how things should work and have learned, even embraced, the SU way in most cases. But it is because of what they have done so well that the bugs and “backward behaviors” tend to stick out in contrast. I’m sure I’m not alone in sometimes thinking “why did they develop this new feature before fixing this other thing that’s been broken for years”? On those matters I would love to have a chat with someone who makes those choices and understand why.
2 Likes
Yeah, the process by which items are prioritized for the developers is often inscrutable.
2 Likes
Care to delineate these ‘best practices’?
When using a library of components there is nothing to purge from the library. The purge command only deals with the components you have pulled into the exact file you are using, each file has its own embedded components so you can use them over and over without reaching out into the library. If you aren’t using them, purging gets rid of the embedded components but has no effect on the greater libraries you have organized.
A library can be individually named components or a family of many components. Component libraries are individual SU files in a file folder on your computer, those files can be either the individual named component or a file full of hundreds of components each individually named in that file.
Personally I would much rather use the file system of the computer/cloud in an easily managed window independent of SU than futzing around in a simulacrum of the same thing inside SU.
I work for a large furniture manufacturing company with hundreds of lines of products, making libraries of each product line allows easy access and then insertion of a particular component of one of those lines. We have thousands of components online which our users can either access through the cloud or if downloaded, from their computer.
When we layout a customer’s space or one of our showrooms, we often will have hundreds of components, when purging I couldn’t imagine going through the list to decide which ones I am not using I would want to purge or not, if I found I needed something again and it wasn’t there I would just go into my library and grab it again. Just because it isn’t embedded in your actual file doesn’t mean it can’t be had again.
How often do you purge?
With modern storage I won’t purge until I am done or need to share it with someone. We often have 1-2 gigabyte files while working and can have complete files of over a gigabyte for our showrooms due to the variety of products and the entourage we accessorize the spaces with (with many high poly models due to what is available and speed to get the work done).
2 Likes
Lol - here’s what I ended up with -
Apparently I made a video on this years ago as well which I only found AFTER posting the new one -
2 Likes