I’ve recently switched from SketchUp Web to Pro and I’m confused about where my files exist and where I should be saving them.
When I was using SU Web, they were being saved to SketchUp’s cloud location, unless I saved them locally.
Pro is saving them locally, which is knocking them out of sync with the latest versions from SU Web.
Neither saves to Trimble Connect unless you tell it to.
What’s the best practice here?
Any files saved to the cloud is using Trimble Connect. If you are using SketchUp 2024 you can open Trimble Connect files, make changes, do a save, and the cloud version will be updated.
It will be interesting to see what best practices people suggest.
There are multiple ways to manage your SketchUp files. My preference is to save them locally on an internal drive and then also save them to my Trimble Connect storage. This gives me a backup if things go pear-shaped on one end or the other. Saving locally allows me to open my models without an internet connection . Saving to Trimble Connect makes it easy to access my models from other computers if needed. Also, every time you save your file to Trimble Connect you get an incremental save which means you can later go back to an earlier version if desired. You can also generate and send a link to a client so they can view your model in the online viewer.
This is the way I want it to work for me. I had an experience working on a file locally, and then wanting to also save it to Trimble Connect as well for good measure. I’d swear it removed the local copy and threw me into a panic. How exactly do you get a copy pushed to TC while not losing the local copy?
It shouldn’t remove the local copy after saving to Trimble Connect. At least here the local file is still in the folder where I saved it initially. After saving to TC, subsequent saves will go to TC but a quick Save as … will let you save to the local location and give you the option to save over the existing local copy or change the name to create an incremental save.
I would also save the file to a local folder, like “Projects”, and then save to TC. I don’t know if Mac is the same but if you save to your local drive, or not, there should be a local copy when you save to TC in:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\SketchUp\SketchUp 2024\SketchUp.tc\longstringoflettersandnumbersfolder
Maybe you tried saving to TC before saving to disk?
In particular this was started on iPad in the field with the intention of picking up later on desktop. All was saved locally on the iPad as I worked and progressed, then I thought I’d publish to TC for good measure. It might be a part of how iPad works. I want to get this straight though so whatever happens is what I expect to happen.
I guess I haven’t done that with a SketchUp model started on the iPad so maybe there’s something to that.
I saw that thread… really cool example. I can’t say if iPad saves locally via TC even if you don’t intentionally save it to the iPad but I’d guess that it does.
For me the issue is that I ‘feel like’ I have control of the file and I know where it is. But actually, I think you could just save to TC and even treat the local cached file folder as the ‘working’ folder whether it’s in the iPad or Desktop.
For me the solution is to create my project folder and files on the home computer and then upload to TC. I previously really liked the Upload Model button on the earlier version of the TC extension… ‘felt like’ I was moving the file intentionally. Also, with the Viewers (HMD or tablet) not being used for making the files, it seems natural to have the home computer be the center from where files are distributed to field devices. The iPad features are looking so cool that it’s tempting to get one. If I did, I’d still create my projects at the home computer and then open in the field on the iPad even though it seems fully capable of handling everything itself.
Ugh, well, right now as I try playing with it again, it won’t connect to TC because it thinks I don’t have an internet connection despite the fact that all other app on the iPad have no problem connecting.
Since you started of with the webversion, you are already familiar with the concept of the ‘single source of truth’ in the (Trimble) Cloud.
Might as well continue with that.
The 2024 version will display the most recent thumbnails in the Welcome splash kind of the way you are used to see them in the webversion, with icons of a cloud (created in the webversion or iPad > TC) or folder (local on the pc created models)
You might wanna take full advantage of Trimble Connects project and collaboration features as well and create projects with folder structures in the webversion, first.
Then create a model and File > Trimble Connect > Save in the correct folder in the Desktop app…
Ok, so SU Web autosaves to a location SU Pro can save to but doesn’t by default. That’s very unintuitive but at least now I understand it.
I mean… wouldn’t it be nice if Trimble just stepped into this century and stored files in the cloud by default—at least as an option? Especially because this is a paid service?
IMHO “Trimble Connect” is a lousy option for being a single source of truth because it must be manually updated (and the save option is buried in a submenu). It’s likely to lag behind the local file.
I would absolutely hate that.
It’s been an option to save to the cloud for years. And they provide unlimited storage for subscribers.
What version of SketchUp are you using? Your profile needs updating and completing.
I, also, would hate it if it was only cloud based. My models tend to get into the few hundreds of MB so the idea of always transferring back and forth sounds terrible. I get annoyed when it stutters just from automatically saving locally as it is… 
Personally, now that Trimble cloud is a thing, I always work on my file locally and only upload less frequently to store an updated model or work as a backup or more likely to share with a client. This way my local file is more of a work in progress and the cloud version is more refined and client ready.
One of my models in trimble has like 80 versions which is… Quite ridiculous.
Is there a way to remove some of the updates without removing all? I believe there is a manual way of doing it but just scrubbing though all the iterations sounds like a pain!
As a sidenote, I have a client that …always… Has a problem getting the model from the cloud. She is not very computer literate and the process is always painful. I wish it could be easier for her. Things like the trimble website and trimble in SKP are too different and become problems when it’s almost what one wants but not quite it.
Well, beyond the scenes you were always on the ‘lousy’ Trimble Cloud when working with Go (the webapplication).
That’s why you also had the business plan for Trimble Connect, btw, instead of the free plan.
Most likely, there is a project called ‘SketchUp’ where you’re models saved in the cloud are stored.
Head for conect.trimble.com to explore.
Starting a new file on the desktop only needs to set to be saved to the cloud once. After that, each Ctrl + S or save will publish a version. The most recent files opened will appear in the Welcome splash, so no need for the file menu.
While Microsoft has it changed over time to be the way you suggested with Excel and Word, this was actually more to promote the use of Onedrive, I guess.
But then, those documents are a bit easier to save made edits to the cloud than 3D models,.
Along with Trimble Connect comes different apps, like Trimble Connect Visualizer, TC for Windows and TC Sync, which can setup synchronization schedules to mirror the projects on the dektop (or server in a company) with the Cloud, so there is also a way to keep working as you always did (working locally) but still have it in the cloud also.
I structurally save everything locally, which is in the dropbox folders per project where everything else is. Which is synced to drop online. Works perfectly. With icloud, onedrive googledrive its too,often problematic. Trimble is no option as it is a second location for projectfiles, which is confusing.
Dropbox also uses Jeff Bezos’s AWS servers, just like Trimble Connect.
Dropbox starts with 3GB free, the cheapest plan is about the same as the business plan of Trimble Connect
So both mine and your models may sit next to each other in a datacenter somewhere in Ireland, close to the cables that connect everything:
Luckily encrypted:)
One can also choose to save locally in a folder that (can) get synced with the Trimble Cloud, though, standard location would be %Username%/Trimble Connect Sync, but as explained, one can have more control with the sync tool and create customized schedules.
Since one get’s a business plan with unlimited storage with a subscription ( The free plan ‘only’ offers 10GB), why not use it. It’s easy to (pre)view word docs, PDF and excel sheets, it get’s a bit more complicated to view 3D Models in the other cloud services.
Agree Jack, issue is just we prefer the one single location. With all private, photo, film and workfiles we have 800gb on dropbox stacked. Work with history being 280gb alone. Separate from the local backups.