SketchUp 2025 on macOS 15.6.1 — Crash when using Customize Toolbar (workaround + script)

Hi everyone,

I’ve run into (and managed to partly work around) a reproducible crash in SketchUp 2025 on macOS. Posting this here in case it helps others until Trimble releases an official fix.

Problem

  • Environment: macOS Sequoia/Sonoma 15.6.1, SketchUp Pro 2025 (25.0.659).
  • Whenever I open View → Customize Toolbar, SketchUp immediately crashes with SIGABRT.
  • This happens even with all plugins removed and after resetting preferences.
  • Crash logs show AppKit / CoreDrag / Ruby calls → seems like a conflict in Apple’s NSToolbar handling.

Observations

  • The top application toolbar (the one directly under the menu bar, not the floating palettes) stores its configuration in: ~/Library/Preferences/com.sketchup.SketchUp.2025.plist

under keys like NSToolbar Configuration SketchUpToolbar25.

  • In SketchUp 2024, the same keys exist as …Toolbar23/…Toolbar24.
  • Migrating those values manually avoids the need to open “Customize Toolbar”.

Workaround / Solution

I wrote a small shell script that:

  1. Backs up your 2025 plist.
  2. Removes any existing NSToolbar configs.
  3. Copies the toolbar configuration from 2024 into 2025 (renamed to “…Toolbar25”).
  4. Clears macOS preference cache and saved state.

:right_arrow: After running the script, SketchUp 2025 launches with the 2024 toolbar layout — no crash, no need to touch Customize Toolbar.

How to use this script

  1. Open TextEdit, paste the script below, and save it as: migrate_sketchup_toolbar.sh (choose Plain Text format, not RTF).

2. Move the file to your Desktop.

3.Open Terminal and run:

cd ~/Desktopchmod +x migrate_sketchup_toolbar.sh./migrate_sketchup_toolbar.sh

4. Follow the prompts. It will:

  • back up your plist,
  • copy your 2024 toolbar config into 2025,
  • clear cache.

5. Launch SketchUp 2025 normally (not via Customize Toolbar).

The script:

#!/bin/zsh
# ============================================================
# Migrate SketchUp toolbar configuration from 2024 → 2025
# on macOS. This is useful if "Customize Toolbar" crashes
# on macOS 15.6.1 (Sonoma/Sequoia).
# ============================================================

set -e
set -o pipefail
export LC_ALL=C

PLIST24="$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.sketchup.SketchUp.2024.plist"
PLIST25="$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.sketchup.SketchUp.2025.plist"

echo "🔒 Close SketchUp 2024 and 2025 before running this script."

[[ -f "$PLIST24" ]] || { echo "❌ $PLIST24 not found"; exit 1; }
[[ -f "$PLIST25" ]] || { echo "❌ $PLIST25 not found"; exit 1; }

cp "$PLIST25" "$PLIST25.bak.$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
echo "📦 Backup created."

plutil -convert xml1 "$PLIST24" 2>/dev/null || true
plutil -convert xml1 "$PLIST25" 2>/dev/null || true

plutil -remove "NSToolbar Configuration SketchUpToolbar23" "$PLIST25" 2>/dev/null || true
plutil -remove "NSToolbar Configuration SketchUpToolbar24" "$PLIST25" 2>/dev/null || true
plutil -remove "NSToolbar Configuration SketchUpToolbar25" "$PLIST25" 2>/dev/null || true

if plutil -extract "NSToolbar Configuration SketchUpToolbar24" xml1 "$PLIST24" -o /tmp/_tb_src.plist 2>/dev/null; then
  SRC_KEY="24"
elif plutil -extract "NSToolbar Configuration SketchUpToolbar23" xml1 "$PLIST24" -o /tmp/_tb_src.plist 2>/dev/null; then
  SRC_KEY="23"
else
  echo "❌ No toolbar found in 2024 plist. Open SU 2024, set up a toolbar, close it, then rerun."
  exit 1
fi

plutil -insert "NSToolbar Configuration SketchUpToolbar25" -xml "$(cat /tmp/_tb_src.plist)" "$PLIST25"
rm -f /tmp/_tb_src.plist 2>/dev/null || true

rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Saved Application State/com.sketchup.SketchUp.2025.savedState" 2>/dev/null || true
killall cfprefsd >/dev/null 2>&1 || true

echo "✅ Toolbar25 successfully written."
echo "➡️ Launch SketchUp 2025 (NOT via Customize Toolbar)."

Disclaimer

This is not an official Trimble fix.

  • Always back up your plist files first.
  • Use at your own risk.
  • If anything breaks, restore from the backup created by the script.

Next steps

Hopefully this will be fixed in SketchUp 2025.1. Until then, this script avoids crashes and keeps the toolbar working.

Has anyone else confirmed this behavior on macOS 15?

it’s 2am, I can’t make sense of all you wrote (going to sleep now), but could it be related to this issue ?

Yes, that seems related — I missed that thread.

I also tried toggling plugins on/off for a while but got tired of chasing it. In the end I asked GPT to make a small shell script that migrates my 2024 toolbar config into 2025, so I don’t need to open Customize Toolbar at all. Unfortunately I had Selection Toys and JHS Powerbar in my toolbar, so it’s not possible to add them manually with this bug.

This way SU doesn’t crash and I can keep working.