Hi All,
(Background info) My Mac continuously says I’m running out of memory and it forces me to shut down programs if too many are running at once.
All of a sudden, I can no longer access any previous .skp files saved in my icloud folder on my Mac. They are still visible in my iCloud, however they are a plain white rectangle box with no preview of the model. I can right click and it says open with— the only option says ‘terminal’.
What is going on and how do I re-access my SketchUp files saved in iCloud?
Many thanks in advance,
Hannah
Download them to a USB stick or your Mac (if you can make space) then open them locally. It’s always advised not to save direct to the cloud as issues like this can happen.
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How many RAM do you have?
Apple logo > About this Mac
Typically, iCloud syncing will reserve multiple versions for safety in a temporary location of the RAM.
How large are the files?
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this is the error message when i try to duplicate it and open it:
Apps that use Apple’s iCloud version history have a menu-item called ‘Archive’.
SketchUp doesn’t have it.
As said, if you work directly from a network location, you risk loosing your work. It’s a bit more reliable when you’re not using Backup and Autosave [menu] SketchUp > Preferences > General) and if you have a high-speed upload connection, but generally, avoid it .
Download it and put it on a ‘working’ folder that doesn’t get synced automatically.
If you have Time- machine, there might be an earlier version.
Curious as of why you want to duplicate a backup version of the backup version of the original file.
Maybe, if you upload them all, something might get recovered, I believe @colin has some tricks on his sleeve 
If you want a reliable version history, use Trimble Connect to publish each version. It is designed to work with 3D Models.
Will confess I need very basic layman’s terms on how to do this.
Like, step by step instructions.
What does it mean to ‘open them locally’ and how do i do that?
How do I access these files?
Thank y’alls continued help!
Open them from a hard drive, not iCloud.
Sorry, that was a quick email I put together in a rush.
I’m not a macOS expert, but it should be something like:
Drag and drop from iCloud to Local Storage/USB stick. Open from there.
It won’t let me download the files into my drop box
My desktop items are all saved in the cloud, dragging from icloud to desktop doesnt do anything. should i turn that off?
Also getting this message when i move my icloud .skp files to dropbox
Probably, the desktop is synced with iCloud, too.
That is automatically set when you update a major version of the OS (eg. From Mojave to Big Sur)
These can be altered in the system preferences, by clicking on your Apple ID.
But I also see the image of SketchUp in the navigation column of the finder. How do you open SketchUp?
Do you actually have it move to the Applications?
Could be that things are messed up.
I open SketchUp from my dock
Did you see the error message about 'finder can’t complete the operation bc some data in “____” can’t be read or written."
Did some quick internet searches for “move files from iCloud to Mac” and get a lot of info for copying from iCloud drive back to your hard drive. I’d take a look at the options and if your not confident that you can do what you need to do it might be best to seek some help at a local Apple store or maybe better if there is an authorized Apple retailer in your area. Also as MikeW pointed out, curious why what appears to be the “SketchUp.dmg” installer showing up under “Devices” in your finder window. Makes me wonder if you installed SketchUp correctly ?
Copy and pasted a sketch up file into my drop box and it is still staying it is not a a sketchup file.
“curious why what appears to be the “SketchUp.dmg” installer showing up under “Devices” in your finder window.”
I just updated my sketch up thinking maybe that was the issue and just didn’t delete the sketch up download tool…
Heres a quick thing to try to see if your files on iCloud are o.k. Open Finder > iCloud Drive select a SketchUp file. There should be a download icon. It’s a little cloud with a downward pointing arrow. Click that and it should download into your “Downloads” folder. Find the SU file in Downloads folder and try opening that one.
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If any file, like a skp file, is saved in a folder that is synct with the iCloud, they get a ref that is not always directly the file wanted. This file will be downloaded from the cloud and then openend by the application.
Those folders are, when iCloud for desktop and documents are enabled, and inside those named folders, saved in the cloud, but when running out of disk space replaced by a reference (kind of alias) that points to the real file.
Thats also the reason why backing up those folders are difficult to handle, you will backup the ref. and not the file itself.
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This makes sense, so how do i access the files that have been compromised due to disk space?
