Make a toggle for the Push/Pull to automatically create a group

It’s been a few years since I messed with this and now I’m trying to create a garage door with repeating patterns. I easily start with a small rectangle within a top portion of the door frame and pull it down into my first shape. Now I want to make a slightly different one below it, the 2 of which will be repeated all the way down.
The first rectangle has 3 sides facing other faces. I’ve had this problem before where when I try to select all the lines and faces it selects other things in the background of the house. If I triple-click this, it selects the whole house. Why can’t the push/pull simply create a single object that I can select and copy? Otherwise, the more objects in the background, the greater the need to create everything on the side and then drag it in and resize to fit. Either way this is an unnecessary hassle for something so basic.

It is generally best practice to make a group or component out of each separate piece as you model along, keeping ungrouped raw geometry to a minimum. Triple click should select all connected raw geometry, if the whole house is being selected as well it would indicate that the whole house is all raw geometry and not separated into groups or components. This is indeed a very difficult (incorrect) way to work. Push pull will create a single object that you can move and copy, unless you make that object touching other pieces of raw geometry. This “sticky” interaction of all raw geometry is a fundamental and use-full part of SketchUp. You can setup keyboard shortcuts for make group and make component.

Perhaps I’m not understanding the problem correctly. Can you post a screen shot or the entire .skp file that is giving you trouble.

Ok. I don’t recall this being explained but it’s probably in there somewhere. That makes sense. Although once it’s a group it can’t be resized except in scale. Maybe I’m missing something again. I can’t resize a 3D object?
I guess I don’t agree with the general premise of using lines to create 3D objects. It would be nice to work with basic 3D objects more directly. Lines make sense in 2D. In 3D lines aren’t a thing in themselves, merely a boundary of a face. It’s as absurd as making the intersection points things in themselves. Basically pointless. Lines are necessary to make a facet in a face or something but they aren’t 3D objects. Maybe I’m better off working with another product.

Group/Components are a big basic part of working in SketchUp, you can learn more about their use here:

or here:

https://learn.sketchup.com/track/sketchup-fundamentals-part-1

Yes, you are missing a lot. Groups and components just put wrappers around geometry to keep it from interacting in the exact way you were finding frustrating. The geometry inside the “wrapper” can still be modified, changed pushed pulled, scaled, whatever… you just need to open the wrapper to get to it. Do this by double clicking a group/component or right click on it and choose edit. You can use all the same tools once inside the “wrapper” Many new users also do not understand that the scale tool accepts exact measurements, not just scale ratios.

SketchUp is a surface modeler. All geometry is represented by edges and planes. As in fact is the geometry of the real world, all defined by edges and surfaces. I don’t know what’s really inside the wood slab of my desk, there might be a bug eaten void, or buried treasure in gold doubloons. Lines and planes in sketchUp are not 3D objects, they have 0 thickness. I guess I’m not understanding what working with 3d objects more directly would look like? SketchUp is pretty direct geometry manipulation.

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