Hello everyone,
Is anyone having an issue when opening a file created and saved in v 2026?
I can open a file from a 2026 session. However, if I want to open an older version file, say 2025 or 2023 and use the open with option, 2026 is not listed from Windows drop down list. If I navigate to find the program, in this case 2026 which I’ve located in the program folder, it opens the file in 2025.
Can someone offer a solution other than opening from the 2026 session?
Thank you.
Charlie
You can either Delete sketchup version 2025 from your machine or right click on any sketchup file, go to properties, on the general tag under type of file it says opens with, and next to it it should say sketchup application but it doesn’t say the version, so click on change a window will pop up giving you some options, just scroll all the way down and click on select an app from the pc, The file programs folder will be opened, search the Sketchup folder and open it then just click on sketchup 2026/sketchup and select sketchup, not sketchup_webhelper, just sketchup, it should have the sketchup logo on the left, that should make all tour .skp files open on sketchup 2026.
Thank you Francis,
I’ve already tried your second option on locating the .exe file for SU 2026, but it still opens the file in 2025. I may follow your advise to uninstall 2025. Thank you for your response and offering a solution.
Charlie LeBleu
I did tech support at a company with that exact problem. they had 21 to 26 installed, opening 26 worked fine, but double clicking on an existing file opened 26.
repairing the install didn’t do anything, nor reassigning the default app for skp manually.
so I uninstalled 25. and now it tried to open 24. and I uninstalled it. and it finally reverted to 26.
this is not normal behaviour, but somehow… it behaved.
in the end, as a cleanup, and because the company had all the installers safely stored, we removed the older versions as well.
Thanks guys for your help. Your suggestions are appreciated. I figured someone would suggested removing older versions to work around this problem. I guess keeping the older versions installed means I have to open a file from within the current running version.
Is the general opinion that this is a bug that will be addressed or just an anomaly to live with?
something in windows refuses to link the skp files to sketchup 2026. it happened with other older versions too.
indeed. now, older versions can still be reinstalled if you need them, just keep an installer close at hand I guess 
Your right. I forgot to mention that I too thought that it may be related to compatibility issue in Windows; specifically to Windows 11.
Not specific to win 11 only I had the same problem with win 10, I ended up uninstalling all version’s with a 3rd party installer and ended up reinstalling 2026 to get it to work I did not try to install previous versions yet as I only use it for fun
I didn’t say to do that on the sketchup installer, just do it on any sketchup file, for example the one you’re working currently on, right click on it and follow the steps I mentioned.
That did not work in my case win refused to change to what I wanted sketchup.exe it would stay at 2020 no mater how often I tried to reset it that’s why I ended up uninstalling all
PS this happened after win update.
Hi,
I’m experiencing an issue after updating SketchUp to the 2026 version. Whenever I try to open any .skp file, it opens as a blank/empty file. The only workaround I’ve found is to first open SketchUp 2026 and then import the .skp file I want to work on. I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or if this is a new bug introduced with the 2026 update.
I also wanted to ask: after updating to the 2026 version, is it safe to uninstall or delete the older SketchUp versions? I don’t see a reason to keep multiple previous versions on my computer, but I want to be sure it won’t cause any issues.
Thank you in advance!