I am going to be teaching Sketchup in a local Adult Ed program next week. I have done this in the past, but it’s been more than a year. I went into the free version to get my self reacquainted with where everything is. I was disappointed to discover that the free version has been degraded. As far as I can tell the is no longer an X-ray option, or a Back Edges option. Can anyone explain why this was done. The great thing about the free version is that it’s such a great segue into the Pro version. What’s the purpose on degrading the free program?
You should be able to select styles that have Xray face style shown. And, as always, K is the keyboard shortcut for displaying Back Edges.There has not been a change in this since SketchUp Free was released. No degradation of features at all.
You can also use the search function to search for Xray and Back Edges.
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I spoke too soon. I went back into the free program, and, sure enough, I was able to find both. Things have been re-arranged a bit, and I always find it difficult at first going from the Pro to the free version. I should have spent more than a few minutes looking for those features. I’m going to be spending some serious time re-acquainting myself, so I can work smoothly while explaining what it is that Sketchup can do. Thanks for the help.
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I have an update to my last reply. I’ve now discovered that, depending on what I’m doing, the X-ray option is not available, except by searching. That was never the case in the past. It does not show up in Styles, Scenes, or Display. I had it yesterday, and now it’s not anywhere.
What exactly are you doing and you don’t have the possibility to use X-ray?
Once you set a shortcut for it, it is no longer necessary to use the search.
Xray is one of the default styles.
It seems to depend on what computer I’m working on. I just brought up the free version on my desktop, and it’s there under Face Settings of Styles. I go back to my laptop, and it can only be found by searching, although it was there briefly yesterday. This is going to make teaching Sketchup a bit tricky. Never had this issue before.
It sounds to me as if you’re opening SketchUp Go on your desktop machine. It’s included with your subscription and Go has the option to edit styles which SketchUp Free does not.
I have Pro loaded in both computers.
I just duplicated loading the free version on my laptop, and it is different there from the workstation computer. It does seem to have something to do with what computer it’s running on.
Do you see the SketchUp watermark at the top right on both computers? SketchUp Free includes the watermark by default. SketchUp Go does not.
Check the import options. Can you import .dxf files on both?
I don’t see the SketchUp watermark on either. I’m accessing the app in MS Edge on both, and the address is: Trimble Identity .
Then you are not using SketchUp Free on either one. The free version includes the SketchUp logo at the top right as shown in @mihai.s’s video.
Selecting the In Model styles (house icon at the top) and then the Edit button to the left of the house, you should see the Xray option near the bottom of the panel. You might need to scroll down to get to it.
In any case, this is moot if you are going to be demonstrating SketchUp Free instead of SketchUp Go since the free version doesn’t allow for editing styles. In both Go and Free there is a default style with Xray available.
I can now see that things have changed, and I need to get up to speed. I know that the X-ray style is there, but I looking for a quicker way to turn it on and off. In the past, having students get the free version was easy, but now I have no idea what to tell them to do. I’ve gone to the SketchUp web site, but cannot find it anywhere. It used to be under Plans, but no more. Of course the link I have for the app works fine, so that will probably have to be the way to go.
So use the search function and once it is found, set a keyboard shortcut for it. That’ll also teach the students how to add keyboard shortcuts.
Giving them the link is probably most straightforward. Another option is to use the search button at the top of the website page.
Who are the students and how are they going to be using SketchUp?
Sure, it’s not obvious, but it’s there: 
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I certainly know how to add shortcuts in the Pro version, but I had no idea you can do that in the free version. I should mention that even if it can be done, things don’t always work in the free version the way they should. For example, the K key has no effect for Back Edges. I think a good part of the issues that folks run into is that each manufacturer uses their own version of Windows, so things can definitely work a little differently on different machines.
I’m going to spend the weekend getting this down to a science. I’ll be contacting each of the students to go over everything well in advance.
Search for the command. If it doesn’t have a native shortcut, click on the square for it and add one.
If there is a native one such as for Back Edges, it’ll be shown already.
Has the keyboard shortcut be changed. It works for me with no issues.
I don’t think it has anything to do with the version of Windows. some browsers don’t support SketchUp for Web very well but usually it’s graphics issues.
The problem is that I have Pro loaded on my computer, and SketchUp recognizes that. For a person that is coming in “cold”, things can be a little different. I ran into this during an earlier teaching session. While I had the free program on my laptop, I could access both Components and the Solids tools, but the students could not.
I don’t know what it is, but I just have to make sure I don’t have to figure out things on the fly while I’m teaching.