Sketchup Pro Linux Support

Waiting anxiously for your updates!

On this and different threads about sketchup on Linux I’ve tried to make people realize all the problems and money that will cost port sketchup and it’s plugins to Linux, but now that windows 11 has become an invasive OS prioritizing useless AI features I was thinking how useful would be to have a Linux version, luckily I discover Atlas OS and got rid of a lot of trash and telemetry that windows 11 has and is impossible to get rid without having a high level of knowledge, Atlas OS make this easier, you can even install the browser of your preferences without having to install edge, also one drive that for me is more like a virus than a useful cloud service. The performance of the cpu and gpu is also better cause it doesn’t have to deal with a lot of background processing. It is supported for windows 11 pro though but I’ve seen some videos installing on Atlas OS on windows 11 home.

Please develop Sketchup Pro for Linux. My Pro subscription is up for renewal in Feb, and I will NOT be renewing if I can’t use it on my Linux Mint desktop. I used Windows for 30 years, but Windows 11 is untenable. I will NOT be doing loads of technical work to make your program work in a degraded state for Linux. Just do it please- power users are switching to Linux left and right. There’s no excuse anymore.

Thanks for posting this, but I gotta say, with Linux gaining market share rapidly (especially among power users), why do we have to settle for doing extra work to make programs function in a degraded state? I think it’s time to vote with our dollars and not renew programs that do not have native Linux support.

For a long time, a primary reason for not having an explicitly Linux version has been that it would be complex and expensive to port SketchUp to Linux. It was hard to justify the cost given the relatively small base of users and a prevailing climate of freeware in the Linux community causing doubt that its users would be willing to pay much. A lot of that has changed in the past few years.

As noted in earlier posts, the Linux desktop user community has been growing steadily. Though still smaller than Windows or Mac, it is no longer a tiny fringe.

In addition, the developers built a new graphics pipeline that isolates SketchUp from proprietary hardware dependencies. The lowest levels are still platform-specific, but since most Linux machines use similar hardware to Windows, porting that low level seems like it should be less of a challenge than it once was.

The developers have been working for several years now to break SketchUp free of the proprietary Windows and Mac UI libraries, using instead the Qt library, which is available for Linux too. With these conversions under their belt, I would think that the size of the step to support Linux would be greatly reduced.

Also, both macOS and Linux are UNIX derivatives. A large part of the remaining code ought to be close to identical, the main differences being hardware interfaces, though most Linux machines use the same hardware as Windows, so even that might not be as big a step as it once seemed.

Given the considerable effort Trimble is expending on AI, collaboration, and other enhancements (many of which the average user did not ask for), it would seem reasonable to put at least a small part of that attention onto investigating what adding support for Linux would require today.

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Still waiting for my Qt Mac upgrade…. :face_with_crossed_out_eyes:

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I would also like to have a native Linux sketchup app but I don’t think that threatening putting a date so close or even without a date would make the developers release a Linux version as soon as you wish.

I’ve been using Atlas OS for a few weeks now, and I’m very happy with it, I got rid of a lot of stuff preloaded with windows specially the telemetry, AI and one drive besides other useless functions, it’s great you don’t even have to install edge to download chrome, Firefox Opera or whatever you want, it asks you during installation what web browser you want to use and install only the one you choose.

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I hear you, but I’m not going to pay for a program I can’t use, since I’m not using Windows anymore. I don’t expect Trimble to develop a Linux native Sketchup just for me- but I am one of probably thousands of people in a similar situation. I am voting with my dollars.

You can get a trial version from SketchUp labs today. What’s not clear is what remains to be done before it will be ready for release and why that is still dragging on.

I’m in the beta program… I don’t see anything but the last RC options… unless there is a separate beta for Mac QT.

I did see it early in the process, but haven’t seen it since.

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Me too, and I think it is a separate testing program – I got very confused by that in the feedback section for beta testing a while back.

maybe they removed it in order to add more contrast to it ?

maybe ?
ok, one can dream… :slight_smile:

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@bmike @RTCool There are two modes for the labs program as described in Welcome to Trimble Labs!
When it was in Labs releases mode you could see the development version with all the features there that @slbaumgartner refers to. Prior to 2026.1 release, it switched to Beta releases mode, so the bleeding edge features disappeared to be replaced by the more stable work ready for that release. Now 2026.1 is out, you can expect that next time it will switch back to Labs releases mode again, where you get to see bleeding edge functionality again.

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I wasn’t persuading you to keep using sketchup, just said that it may not be as effective as you think, threatening to leave the program if they don’t develop a Linux version until February.

I can’t really know if thousands, hundred of thousands or dozens of people are willing to pay for sketchup on Linux, usually Linux users(not all) advocate for open source software, that’s why almost all the Linux native software is developed by the same users, there are not many big companies behind Linux software development, probably Bender is the biggest one and it’s a foundation not a company.

SketchUp could probably do what Valve did: create Proton, a translator that allows games developed for Windows to run on Linux with almost no noticeable decrease in performance. I think it’s open source as well, I know close to nothing about programming and software development but if the translator from DX12 to Vulkan already exists, it shouldn’t be hard to make something to make SketchUp for windows run on Linux, again, I’m talking from my ignorance, maybe it could be a nightmare to do it. Anyways, good luck on your Linux journey, and if you find a sketchup alike software for Linux or if you achieve to run sketchup on Linux please come back and tell us about it.

I stupidly deleted the installer and the labs version of sketchup with the new UI, I really enjoyed it and was hoping for an update that lets install plugins, and make the UI a bit more macOS alike, with rounded corners.

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