For the first time today I experienced the “Failed to open document”. After a little panic attack as my deadline is next week, I easily got it fixed. I copied the .skb file (which had the correct saving date and time, which the .skp didn’t) into another map and changed “.skb” to “.skp”. This solved my issue and I hope it helps you too.
Another tip I saw was to go to the properties of the file and recover a previous version.
Renaming the .skb to .skp does sometimes work although not always. We’ve seen plenty of examples of the .skb file being just as badly corrupted as the original .skp file. Still it’s worth a try to rename it. You should not need to move the file before renaming it.
The most common reason for the Failed to Open Document message is due to working on it while it is saved to an external drive or cloud storage. The safest option is to ensure the file is saved on the internal drive while you are working on it.
Another reason seems to be bad objects that have either been created by the user or downloaded from the 3D Warehouse. The latest version of SketchUp 2023 can usually identify those and remove them on opening though. Best practice for getting content from the 3D Warehouse is to download it into a separate SketchUp file so you can examine it to make sure that it is suitable for your project. If it isn’t, either clean it up or go back and look for a different one. Purge unused content from your project file regularly to keep it slim and trim.
BTW, please correct your forum profile. SketchUp 2023 would be the SketchUp Version and Windows 10 or Windows 11 would be the operating system since you have .skb files to rename. You should be able to identify the graphics card and add that, too.
The .skb isn’t as full of zeroes as the .skp but it looks pretty grim.
That’s likely the cause. Many users have reported issues with corrupted files due to working on files directly aved to the cloud. The reccomendation is to save files locally while working on them and syncing them to the cloud when you finish for the time being.
Instead of using DropBox for your cloud storage you could use your Trimble Connect storage. It’s designed for handling the more complex SketchUp files. It also creates and incremental save when you save your model there. Very useful if need to go back to an earlier version for some reason.
@colin might be able to recover something from the .skb but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I guess I would be getting started on rebuilding it while waiting for him to have time to look at it.
I wish I could tell you what exactly fails when files saved outside the local (internal) drive become corrupted. We see this so often I also wish there was a way to get to users like you in time to head it off. The preventative steps are so simple. It’s getting users to know about that is so difficult. On the positive side I’ve never seen anyone report a file becoming corrupted when it is saved to their Trimble Connect storage. And it’s included as part of the price of your subscription so it seems silly not to take advantage of it.
I know I’m a very small statistical sample of SketchUp users but so far in 21 years of using SketchUp I’ve never once had a file become corrupted like yours are. I only work on files that are resident on a local drive. And since the advent of Trimble Connect I save my files there as a backup in addition to keeping them on the internal drive.
Ive seen you helped many people to open skp files after receiving error - Failed to open document.
Can you please help me with the same issue… The file was stored on local server and it was opened on laptom and PC at the same time, and saved couple of times and this morning this error occured.
I looked at your file. Unfortunately it is missing about half the data it should have. Is there a .skb backup version of the file? Have you tried opening it?
You really should be downloading the folder from the server to the internal drive in the computer when you want to work on it. Save to the internal drive and then copy it back to the server when you’ve finished working on it.