I meant the sidebar in ‘Finder’…
Bah, this is an old bug and I just didn’t realize it (I go to fast sometimes trying to respond on forums).
You could open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal and paste in:
cp /Applications/SketchUp 2015/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Shortcuts.plist ~/Library/Application\ Support/SketchUp\ 2015/SketchUp/
then restart SketchUp 2015 and they’ll be reset to the defaults.
Barry
Tried it but got a “No such file or directory” response.
Gerry
Every day is a good day. Some are just better than others.
@Barry forgot to escape the space in the first path…
cp /Applications/SketchUp\ 2015/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Shortcuts.plist ~/Library/Application\ Support/SketchUp\ 2015/SketchUp/
I added a backslash before the first 2015, but left the space…
john
John
I just got a “permission denied” response when I tried. As far as I know, I’m logged in as Administrator. Any suggestions?
you shouldn’t ‘need’ to, but you could add ‘sudo’ at the start of the code, it will then ask for your admin password and should complete…
it’s basically saying, super user do copy with sudo cp …
john
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That worked! Both you and Barry have been absolutely amazing. I am truly impressed! I never expected this type of support from a piece of free software. I was sold before but now I’m a true believer. Thanks for everything.
Thnx. Everything here applies to Pro as well. It’s been the “aw shucks, you like our software?” mentality from day one that’s gotten us to be the most popular 3D design software, and we don’t plan on changing that.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Hiya,
I’m having the same problem. Lost all keyboard shortcuts in SketchUp Make 2015, tried resetting them, then upgraded to SketchUp Make 2016, no difference.
I also tried the above in terminal while replacing 2015 with 2016, but no success. Any ideas?
Cheers
The fixups given earlier should work. I’ll review and expand on the details in one place, since they are spread around in multiple previous messages and it would be easy to garble something:
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SketchUp->Preferences->Shortcuts->Reset All is supposed to replace your existing Shortcuts.plist file with a fresh copy of the defaults from the app bundle. That should leave you with just the defaults such as “m”->Move Tool, “o”->Orbit Tool, etc. Previously Barry said, without elaborating, that there is a bug that sometimes prevents the reset from working, in which case a manual fixup is needed. But reset is always what you should try first.
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When you upgrade to a new version, SketchUp tries to do you a favor by copying the shortcuts preferences from the latest prior version you have installed. If the plist for the previous version was damaged, this can produce a similarly damaged file in the new installation. However, unless the bug Barry mentions hits you, reset should get back to the defaults.
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When you do a manual fixup to a preferences plist file, the app that “owns” that plist must not be running. Most apps load their preferences only as they launch, so a running app most likely won’t see your changes. But worse, a running app can rewrite its preferences at any time based on what it currently has in memory. Most apps do so if you change anything via their preferences dialogs and also as they quit. So if you try to fix the issue externally while SketchUp is running, there is a chance that your changes will be ignored and lost.
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In many of the posts above, John suggests running system commands to do the fixup via the SketchUp Ruby Console. Though that often works and is convenient if you are already running SketchUp, for the reasons described in #3, in this specific situation I prefer to use the Terminal. Other than wrapping in %x() Ruby syntax the commands are the same.
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Several of the paths involved have spaces in the names of folders. When you type these by hand, you have to precede each space with a backslash \ or OS X will not process the command correctly. For example (if these lines wrap in your browser, the characters after the 's are spaces, not returns!)
Edit Feb 27: tell discourse the following is pre-formatted so it doesn’t wrap incorrectly.
cp /Applications/SketchUp\ 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Shortcuts.plist ~/Library/Application\ Support/SketchUp\ 2016/SketchUp
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Since Mavericks, OS X has a system service named cfprefsd that acts as an intermediary between the app and the plist files on disk. To improve performance, cfprefsd retains the preferences in memory after it passes them to or from an app. To get an externally modified plist file to “stick” you have to force cfprefsd to reload its cache. You can do so by logging out and back in (preferences are per-user, so they can’t be retained when you are logged out). Or you can open a Terminal window and type the system command “killall cfprefsd” (without the quotes) after you fix up the plist file.
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Canaroo ran into a “permission denied” issue that was fixed by elevating permissions using the sudo command. This should not happen, and indicates that permissions are somehow incorrect on the files in your SketchUp installation (which might be the bug that Barry mentioned but didn’t elaborate). Since I’ve not seen that myself, I can’t tell you specifically what is wrong or how to correct the root cause.
Hi there,
I’ve tried running the sudo cp command in terminal but still none of the default shortcuts have returned. My own shortcuts are still there, however. I really want to have both if possible! Thanks in advance 
Except for making you own backup copy of the Shortcuts.plist file and using it when shortcuts get lost, I don’t know of any method that merges your personal shortcuts with the defaults. The Reset All button in Preferences->Shortcuts (is supposed to) copy the master list of defaults to your account, overwriting whatever was there previously. As noted earlier in this topic, for some people this action fails, so the cp command was given as a workaround. But it also just copies the master list, overwriting your custom ones.
I’m not clear why the sudo cp command failed for you. Were any error messages returned when you ran it? Your profile says you are using SU 2016. Did you substitute 2016 for 2015 in the command?
@slbaumgartner, I’m guessing that for those it fails for, they’re not successfully killing and relaunching core foundation prefs daemon, the “killall cfprefsd” in your instructions, or not restarting SketchUp, or doing so in some wrong combination. Apple caches these preferences, and you have to make sure the copy was successful and that cfprefsd did in fact quit and restart.
Yeah, without looking over someone’s shoulder (tough via a text forum like this) it’s difficult to know when they didn’t follow the instructions to the letter.
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately i’ve attempted it again with the killall cfprefsd command, and with relaunch and restart of the machine without success. I did indeed substitute 2016 for 2015 in the command. My terminal input:
Last login: Wed Feb 10 23:39:39 on console
Matts-MacBook-Pro:~ Matt$ sudo cp /Applications/SketchUp\ 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Shortcuts.plist
Password:
usage: cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file target_file
cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file … target_directory
Matts-MacBook-Pro:~ Matt$ killall cfprefsd
Matts-MacBook-Pro:~ Matt$ sudo cp /Applications/SketchUp\ 2016/SketchUp.app/Contents/Resources/Shortcuts.plist
usage: cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file target_file
cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvX] source_file … target_directory
Matts-MacBook-Pro:~ Matt$
This command is incomplete. You haven’t told the cp command where to put the copy! What may have thrown you is that the command given earlier may have line-wrapped so that it appears to be two lines, but it is all one. The part /Applications/…/Shortcuts.plist is the file to copy, and the part ~/Library/…/SketchUp is the folder to copy the file into. No return between the parts.
Bingo! Thanks so much
Hi, new here…
I have just had a similar issue, SU 2016, where “Reset All” deleted all shortcuts when I was expecting to restore to “defaults”.
I navigated to the “Shortcuts.plist” in the library>application support on my Mac 10.9.5 and trashed the file (with SU closed) and when I reopened SU the defaults were back as the app seemed to have created a new “Shortcuts.plist”.
It seemed straightforward…just luck?
I bit the bullet and reset the shortcuts from scratch, and learned not to fall for the “reset all” trap anymore. That button is way too easy to fall for, right next to the input box, and should flash an “are you sure?” message before the reset proceeds…
What I do, once I’ve assigned a new key (or keys) to a function, is empty the search bar at the top of the preferences/shortcuts window, as an “enter” function. This satisfies the "return, or “save” reflex and avoids any mistake.
Provided you have a name for it, said search window is the best way to quickly find the function you’re looking for, as opposed to scrolling-and-scanning. Just punch in the first few digits, select and assign.
As it’s constantly evolving, I print out my own version of the shortcuts list and keep that print next to my screen for quick, easy access, without taking up screen space or requiring a command. I’m up to about 40 shortcuts, but I only remember most of them. When you look them up often enough, they sink in and become automatic.
Well worth the effort, as freeing up the mouse for what it does best eventually pays off in spades.
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