Hello,
I have been working on a model for the past couple of days. When I came to open it today SketchUp said “Failed to open document”. I tried to open the backup file for this model and the backup file seems to have deleted itself.
Just wondering whether anyone knows any solution for this problem?
Share the SketchUp file with us so we can see if we can help you with it.
Where have you been saving the file as you worked on it?
What is the best way for me to share the file with you? WeTransfer?
I have been saving the model onto an external hard drive, I worked on it yesterday on a different PC but since returning to my own PC it no longer works
We Transfer works.
Saving directly to an external drive has been shown to be risky. Best practice is to work on and save the file on an internal drive and copy it to the external drive if you want to make it portable.
Or publish it to your Trimble Connect storage.
Oh okay thanks, I will use a different way to save my projects in the future.
Here is the WeTransfer link:
What you shared is the back up version of the file. It has the extension .skb. Do you have the .skp file to share?
I wasn’t successful opening the file you shared. It might be the @colin would be able to when he’s back in the office on Monday.
It appears that the .skp file I was using has vanished and the .skb version of my model is the only one showing up.
Is it possible the .skp file is on the internal drive of the computer you were using?
The skp. file was showing up on my hard drive at the beginning but after I first tried to open it the file disappeared.
Could it be to do with the other computer having an older version of SketchUp?
I wouldn’t expect that to be the problem. A newer version of SketchUp can open older files. And since SketchUp 2021, the files are version agnostic, meaning that 2021 can open 2022 or 2023 files.
Have you done a search of the computer for the filename? Is it possible to roll back the computer to when the file was available and working? Longshot but it might be available.
The file doesn’t appear to be showing up on my computer. I have asked the administrator for the computer I was using to see whether they can find anything in the temporary files. It may not be as up-to-date but it saves me from losing everything.
Fingers crossed for you.
FWIW, included with your SketchUp subscription is unlimited storage on Trimble Connect. You might consider using it instead of an external drive (or other cloud service). You would still be saving to the internal drive but when you are ready to quit for the day or anytime you want, you would also use File>Trimble Connect>Publish Model to upload it to Trimble Connect. You’ll have the locally resident copy as a backup. Each time you publish the file it creates an incremental save so you can always go back to an earlier version if needed, too. Here’s one I had open and just published again. You can see this one has two versions available.
When you open a file from Trimble Connect it first gets downloaded to a temp folder on the internal drive. Saves are made to that temp folder so you aren’t relying on a web connection while you are working. When you publish the moel again it goes back up to Trimble Connect. You could also use Save as to save it into a non-temporary project folder on your internal drive if you want. This would be wise if you are also creating a LayOut file using the SketchUp file as a reference.
Okay thanks for your help, I will save my files like this from now on.
Hi DaveR & Colin,
I just talked to your collegue about my file. Se said the two of you may be able to put a little magic in my file. A month ago I started with the trial version at my macbook pro version 10.15.7.
After this trial I wanted to go further at the free web version. Unfortunately when I wanted to open my file it said ‘this does not appear to be a sketchup model!’
We don’t know what is wrong with the file. We only do know it has a lot of MB’s. 
I really hope one of you could help us. We are building our dream home, literally, but I need to make it on scale too. You can imagine how many hours their are in this file…
Hope to hear from you soon.
Kind regards and have a wonderfull weekend,
Anne
File link:
I tried various things, but wasn’t able to rescue anything.
I use this utility:
With that you could search for your model name (without the extension), and very quickly see everywhere on your PC where that named file exists. If you order things by date modified you should be able to see the .skb you sent, and hopefully the .skp, somewhere unexpected on your PC.
@Anne-L , are you really using the free web version as your profile shows? if not, what version are you truly using?
It opened for me. I did my normal clean up process.
Fixed incorrect tag usage. All edges and faces should be created and remain untagged.
Purged unused stuff. No reason to be hoarding allthose unused components and materials.
And resized a bunch of excessively large textures.
This reduced file size by about 70%.
Here’s the link: Dropbox - Middelburgsestraat.skp - Simplify your life
Wauw thank you so much Dave, you are fast! I can open my file again at the web version now.
I am such a beginner, so sorry for this probably simple question…
I saw that my file is in black/white now. I can’t find the setting to this. Or is it because of the free version?
I will read the guide about moddeling sketchup to keep this file clean and clear.
Need to learn more about the great program.
I edited the style to show the model in monochrome so it would perform better. You can select a different style to show the materials. I didn’t actually remove them from your model.
I presume you are doing this as a hobby for your own use. Is that correct?
Good idea. You need to be especially careful about loading up your model with stuff with the web version.
This is indeed a hobby of mine which I hope to learn more about during our renovation.
I hope I can find my way in the web version because for me it’s not interesting to get a membership for a year because it is not a payed business of mine.
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