Manually Migrating Extensions

Tutorials
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There are certain cases where you may need to manually migrate an extension from an older version to a newer version of SketchUp. This post will walk through the exact steps to do so.

FIRST! A few disclaimers and tips:

  • Before manually moving files around, see if the developer has an update for the most recent version. It never hurts to look or ask.

  • If the extension is on the Extension Warehouse, try to:
    A. Install via the Extension Warehouse command inside SketchUp (Note: You will need to have Preferences/Extensions/Policy set to Unrestricted).
    B. By opening the Extension Warehouse in your browser, downloading the .RBZ file and installing using Preferences/Extensions/Install Extension button.

  • You should only really need to manually migrate extensions if the original extension was installed with a third party installer, and not an .RBZ.

  • Manually moving your extension file to 2016 may not end up working. Here’s why:
    A. Changes in the API from previous versions may render the old extension unusable in newer SketchUp versions.
    B. In some cases, developers may have essential files in a location that SketchUp (and you) do not know about, or pointers in the software looking in a specific location that you are not moving. This is the case of some renderers or other installations that install additional applications along with the SketchUp extension.

  • Only move ONE EXTENSION at a time. Do NOT try to grab all your old extensions with plans of dumping them in your new installation. If Error alerts start to pop up, it may be difficult to isolate which extension is causing the error and it will be painful to clean up. It might be a good idea to move each extension ONLY AS NEEDED

Now, if you are good with all that and ready to move an extension, here are the steps to move an extension from SketchUp 2015 to SketchUp 2016:

  1. Open Explorer (on windows) or Finder (on OSX)

  2. Navigate to the Plugins folder of the previous version
    Windows - C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2015\SketchUp\Plugins
    OSX - Library > Application Support > SketchUp 2015 > SketchUp > Plugins

  3. Select the files associated with the extension, only
    FILENAME.RB
    FILENAME folder

  4. Copy files

  5. Navigate to the Plugins folder of the new version.
    Windows - C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2016\SketchUp\Plugins
    OSX - Library > Application Support > SketchUp 2016 > SketchUp > Plugins

  6. Paste files

  7. Launch SketchUp 2016

  8. Open References/Extensions and verify that the extension is present (Note: some OLD ruby plugins (single .RB files) may not show up in the Extension list)

  9. Attempt to run the extension as you did in SketchUp 2015

Hopefully, you will be running the extension in 2016 just as you did in 2015!

1 Like
2

it’s the User/…/Library/ on a mac as well, bar a few exceptions…
even those can normally be relocated to User path without issue,

e.g. Visualizer can be relocated…

john