I don’t see a lot of other people having this issue, however, the interior designer and intern I work with and I are all having the same problem. The other two are using PCs and I’m on a Mac (Sonoma OS).
We use only basic, native SketchUp tools in my design business and have been using SketchUp and Layout for over 15 years, so I’m an experienced user. I enjoy designing, not learning software and SketchUp is a needed tool for me, not a hobby or interest. Kind of like my car, I just need it to work and reliably get me where I need to go, I don’t want to fix it or spend time making it “cooler” to other gear-heads.
Since 2022, we have been loosing countless hours of work each spring because of SketchUp problems since it has gone to subscription. Today I have wasted a bunch of time fixing stupid problems with Layout or restarting after the program crashes. Both of my designers are frustrated too.
We have only been using 2024 for a few weeks after experiencing extreme issues with 2023 last year. At one point, my design assistant was reduced to downgrading to 2022 exclusively on her PC (per recommendation by SketchUp). I was using a combination of SketchUp 23 and Layout 22 because my Mac OS wasn’t supported in 22. We made it work last year, but it wasn’t smooth and we lost a bunch of time figuring out what to do.
We hoped that when we both upgraded to 2024, things might improve but this past month since upgrading Layout has been a nightmare. The viewports are shifting and unstable on the PC, images are missing (our title blocks, logos and images for the client are all currently gray boxes with Xs on my Mac so we have to reconnect all the images) and the dimension leader lines are unstable on all of our computers, which costs us hours of work readjusting them every time one of us refreshes the model. We are training an architecture intern, so we need to be able to give feedback and make changes as we work together.
I honestly DO NOT CARE about all of the new functions with each release if they mean the old basic tools no longer work! In fact, I’ve started to dread hearing Aaron describe all of the great new tools and functions with every release because I’ve come to realize the basic functionality in Layout will deteriorate and continue to be under-supported, meaning we are going to have problems getting our work done.
In 2012 I tested several software options and decided to build my business workflow around SketchUp because it used to be stable, reliable, well supported and my clients have always loved seeing their designs in SketchUp.
However, right now my whole team is stressed out and I’m having to send emails to clients this week because we cant get our drawings produced on time - that was NEVER the case before subscription SketchUp. It’s embarrassing, frustrating and extremely costly. My designer has been spending hours working with tech support and documenting the problems we have been having the past two weeks. (The issue with the dimensions has been ‘elevated to Tier 2 support’ but this is meaningless to us and to our clients who are waiting on their drawings.)
SketchUp used to be amazing and we never had issues with the software, now I feel like it’s getting closer and closer to how I felt about AutoCAD before I found SketchUp. The past few years for us SketchUp has become unstable, difficult and is sacrificing the iconic ease of use and functionality, which is making SketchUp more of an expensive distraction than a helpful tool.
Is there any way to get back to maybe the 2018 versions of SketchUp and Layout or something we could just download and use for a few years with a current PC and Mac Sonoma OS without having to upgrade? Ambient Occlusion is nice but the only tool I would truly miss is the flip tool and I would happily give that up again to get back to not missing deadlines and not having to go through this expensive and frustrating set of issues every year.
Are other long time Layout users experiencing problems? Does the SketchUp team have any advice? I’m just exhausted and frustrated and not sure what else to do to get back to having a functional tool set? Thanks in advance …
I use Layout daily more than SketchUp and like yourself I rely on it for making a living.
If I were having the problems you describe I too would be at my wits end.
But I don’t – and apart from minor annoyances – SketchUp/Layout is working great for me.
I wonder if there are some underlying workflows that are being “broken” with recent versions.
Is there a problem Layout file you can share?
The first rule of digital tool use is - if it works, don’t change or upgrade!
This goes for operating systems and applications.
You don’t need to upgrade every season or year unless there is compelling reason to do so (i.e. security, workflow, etc. improvements).
And then do not remove previous versions (for applications) until you know that nothing will hinder you working.
I am on macOS, I have not upgraded to Sonoma and am running the latest version of SKP and LO with no issues to dimensions / viewports / etc.
I would suggest posting both a SKP and LO file here so people can have a look and maybe identify
Thanks for the response - Which version are you using? Things melted down for us last year with 23. There are 2 of us plus an intern working remotely on different systems, which worked great until last year. If it was just me using it, I’m not sure the problems would be so significant. Each time something comes up, we have to figure out if it’s because of the computer type, SketchUp, the cloud we are using?
Last night I was frustrated and exhausted and we’re leaving for vacation today and the 3 sets of drawings that were supposed to be gone by the time I left are sitting there in various states of mess (all have different issues) so my planned vacation activities have changed and I’ll be working much of it.
Can you share more about your work flow? Ours was solid until the 23 debacle and I’m not sure how to get out of this mess and move forward with my team.
I totally get that, but for various reasons, we upgraded to 23 last year. I’m not a computer person, so when I bought a mac desktop last year and was recommended to update my OS before migrating, I followed instructions. Also, whenever we run into trouble, the first question is always “are you on the latest version”? So I’m learning your lesson the hard way, but also trying to navigate how to move foward?
We’ve backed down to 22 Layout since Friday, which was working “ok” last year. Even after backing it down, last night I was just looking at a different pile of gorp in each drawing set. (Missing images, unstable viewports and dimension leaders that shrink whenever we reload). If I could turn back time I absolutely would - I’m just trying to find a long term solution to this current mess.
It would be interesting and helpful to see one of your LayOut files in which you experience this problem. I have some guesses about why it’s happening for you but I’d want to check the LO file to see.
sample layout.layout (13.7 MB)
This is one I was able to send out yesterday in 22 - I’m not sure if it will have the dimensions problem, that was happening in 24, but this one shut down mid work a few times and had a few quirks. For example - I went to edit a piece of text and when I started to type, it would flip to a different Layout page. I had to create a new piece of text and get it formatted the same way again, stupid stuff like that just slows everything down. (This is a very small preliminary version of our workflow, my other Layout files are too large to attach.)
I appreciate you looking into it - however - my current mindset is like my car. As long as I maintain it and use it properly, I expect to be able to get in my car and not have the brake pedal move into the back seat or have it stall at random intersections. I don’t want to be told that I need to learn more about my carburetor to be able to drive or that the brake pedal is moving around because I shouldn’t be driving in the rain. That’s how posting on this forum to experts in SketchUp feels so sorry if I’m a little salty.
I have been “driving” with SketchUp for a long time and am nowhere near maxing out it’s capability. However, your question made me think that maybe we need to try rebuilding our templates in 22, so I’ll have my designer try that in the meantime.
I appreciate any advice you have but based on this, I know the problem is with SketchUp and I’m basically just trying to find a make and model that we can get back to working with just to get back to efficiently getting to where we need to go. Thanks in advance.
Do you use two monitors and have the pages pallet open? I occasionally have this happen on my iMac with second display. Roll up the pages pallet and it should stop. There is a glitch where with some files (I cannot reproduce it) the focus does not return to the main drawing window and it thinks you wish to change page.
Do you have any screenshots of the shifted dimensions?
The fact that editing text changes pages is odd. Is there a specific character you are typing when this happens?
Historically there have been differences in the way text is displayed in LO between Mac and Windows. I opened your file in LO24 on my PC and have had no issues with it. Fortunately or unfortunately the things I was guessing might be the problem with the dimensions aren’t present. I’m glad they aren’t but it means the solution is elsewhere. I’ll keep looking.
Like Dave, my experience with your Layout file and the embedded SketchUp file was fine.
I did some text and dimensions, created some objects with the Layout drawing tools and edited the SketchUp model – no problems.
I suspect it is the same that happens to me (although I don’t know if it has done it in 2024 or not). Usually after creating and naming a new page - I set out to work and minutes later might add text and dimensions. When I add a leader or text box and I add a number the page will jump to whatever number I entered.
I suspect it is an issue with Layout not giving back the focus from the pages pallet on macOS.
It doesn’t happen all the time and I cannot reproduce it. If I roll up the pages pallet it stops. I will often save, quit and restart LayOut.
Hmmm… That would be a problem. You would certainly expect the focus to go back to the main window at least when you click to set the anchor point of the label’s leader.
Yes but known issue on Mac forever from entity info tags field in SketchUp so I’m not surprised there are issues in LayOut.
I don’t use two monitors - again, absolutely nothing fancy or maxed out and we had previous years with no problems from SketchUp. Problems started creeping up around 2020 and the past 2 years have been extreme and costly. Our main resource is time and SketchUp is costing us a TON of it lately.
Ok, next time the issue with the pages jumping roll up or close the pages pallet and see if it helps.
Did you all update with the recent patch release?
I just returned from hospital but if I have energy tomorrow I will open your files on my Mac.
Thanks to you and PaulMcAlenan for “checking under the hood” - it helps to confirm what we are experiencing.
The trouble is that the problems aren’t consistent or replicable, they’re random and time consuming. The only issue that is clearly a problem between all of our computers (and is a major one for us) is the dimensions and I can’t really replicate it. One minute the leaders are there, as soon as we update the model - the dimensions stay connected to the model, but the leaders shrink up back to the tick mark.
My designer Ali is most impacted by this and has been working with SketchUp tech support, she sent this message this morning: “Tech support responded to me saying they were elevating to Tier 2 support, then came back and asked if I had the experimental graphics thing on (which we didn’t do) and to turn off my camera location. If I am correct, if I turn my camera location off, we will lose all the aspects that keep it in the same spot, properties, etc, that allow us to even have scene tabs to dimension? They are calling it a bug that needs to be fixed and also wanting me to do these ridiculous things like copy and paste dimensions from one year to another layout…I’ve sent a sample to tech support as well as a video of what is happening. Hopefully I hear more back today. They mentioned the files not being “new” so I did a test and started a new 2024 and new 2024 layout and built a couple of walls to dimension and it still didn’t work…”
I’m confident we’ll figure out a work-around - hopefully by downgrading to Layout 22, but that’s still not supported on Sonoma and I’m concerned that the basic functionality of Layout is not being supported on any platform. Ali works most often with Layout, so the problems are most acute for her and she uses a PC. If we can get the dimensions to work by going back to Layout 22, we can clean up the mess of the past couple of weeks, but I don’t feel like that is a good long term solution.
I’m the creative, big picture part of this business and also need to be able to go into a document set and make corrections and changes as I notice them to add clarity or respond to clients and contractors. I’m looking more for advice on how to continue using SketchUp/Layout going forward? It works best for us to have a small team sharing models and Layout files, we had a good streamlined, simple system set up that worked well for this purpose until last year. To add to the stress I am feeling, new work is picking up at the same time things are crashing and instead of feeling good about that, I feel farther behind and frustrated with SketchUp.
I understand these questions are kind of existential and the original post was made out of exhaustion and frustration late last night. Thanks again for digging into the details for us and I appreciate any other big picture advice!
Actually I have experienced viewport shifting but not much and not recently (the SketchUp team have known about this from me).
However with respect to the viewport shifting, it hasn’t been too problematic such that it has cost me significant time to rectify.
This is mostly in part – I think – down to my workflow using SketchUp and Layout to produce planning drawings and construction documents.
Firstly my SketchUp models are quite basic – I don’t model too much construction detail.
In Layout it’s usually 1:100 and 1:50 viewports that I use for overviews of the project and, generally, my labels are minimal – annotations are mostly leaderless – and when I do use labels they are not “attached” to the SketchUp model in the viewport.
When a viewport has shifted it hasn’t been too much of a problem as very little in Layout will have shifted with the viewport.
I do a lot of linework in Layout.
For 1:20/25 I trace over the viewport with Layout linework and insert pre-drawn detail and again my labels are not attached to the SketchUp model in the viewport.
This is a draft currently in progress…
For 1:10/5 details I have pre-draw details that I have drawn entirely in Layout and if I need a new detail I will do it in SketchUp…
I can imagine how very frustrating it is to have many labels and dimensions around a viewport and for the model in the viewport to shift.
It’s probably not causing any of the issues but I personally would have a separate SketchUp model for the site overview importing the working model and geolocating it on that Google Earth view.