Hi,
I’ve been using Sketch Up on MAC for about 18 years, and I’m wondering if anyone has the same issues using the text tool as a tag. I do electrical, lighting and circuitry and need to tag a description to each j-box for instance. However, I have noticed that the text disappears, even if you group them to the object. Is this a technical fault, or am I miss using it? - theres not much on the subject. Thanks JC
I can think of several possibilities. Are you using leader text or screen text? If the former, are the leaders still visible? Does the visibility change as you orbit the model? Check the color of the text and of the “untagged” tag. If it is the same as the background or the face, the text will be invisible because it has no contrast with what is behind it.
If none of that helps, can you share a model that shows the problem?
HI thanks Steve,
I’m using the Text tool on the top menu, so screen. I checked re; color, there’s just nothing there.
I’ll try looking into leader text though.
Thanks again
Julian
Is this in SketchUp or in LayOut?
Its SKP. Its done it again. I tag the Text to an object. I Group it. Then work else were, and when I come back to it, its gone! It’s not in HIDE, its not the same color as the back ground, it just disappears.
It’s really stressing me out, as I’m working to a deadline, and I rely on SKP like its my life.
Thx
JC
Post the model…
I think Ive worked it out. When I leave the window of the modal I’m working on, and come back to it, the text is not there. I tried the command z, and it reappears. The program seems to delete it automatically for some reason as I leave the window to work on another window.
CZ - Living - Electrical.skp (4.0 MB)
I saved and closed the file, and when I re-opoend it, 90% of the work has gone. 3 Days work gone. Not even saved on the back up file. 
Is this file the one you shared the actual project file? The excessive nesting of objects might be a problem. It certainly doesn’t make your work flow simple. Is it possible you added the labels into a group that was later deleted?
I’ve added a bunch of labels in your model, saved it, closed it, opened other files, came back to yours and the labels are still present.
Are you changing the color of the labels after placing them?
Then could it be a hardware problem? I’m using an MX Master 3S.
This has never happened before. Only after upgrading to 2024.
Thx Dave
I suppose it could be a hardware problem. I’ve never seen anyone else report this kind of thing before. Maybe @colin has heard of this, though.
A side thing, maybe. How will you use the model when it is complete? I’m thinking that adding labels and dimensions would be better done in LayOut.
For me it would be faster too… add the information to the box / fixture components and then in 3d or in a plan view you could pull the leader, grab info from the component and add any other necessary notes.
The other thing I’ve noticed today is I cant UNHIDE ALL. It just unhides permanently.
I’ve never used Layout… will look into it. Thanks for that.
A couple of things: Unhide All will only work for entities in the current conext. If you have entities inside a group that are hidden, you have to have that group open for editing to unhide those entities. With the excessive nesting in your model, you would have to get the right group level open to unhide the entities.
If you are hiding content by right clicking on it and selecting Hide, it could be that you are getting Erase instread. It’s immediately above Hide in the context menu. They will appear to do the same thing when you click on them but obviously Erase will remove the entities entirely.
If you have hidden labels in your model you would be able to see where they are if you turn on Hidden Geometry. Here I’ve placed and hidden a couple of labels to show what that looks like. I look for hidden labels when I first opened your model but I didn’t see any.
If you are adding labels and other text entities in SketchUp it would be better to give them tags so you can choose to show or not show them as needed.
As @bmike indicated, if you would use components for all of the objects in the model and give them useful information in their descriptions (as well as Advanced Attributes and possibly as text in Dynamic Components, you could access that information quickly when placing labels in LayOut.
Going on the hardware hunch, I ran some tests this morning, and got a new keyboard. Seems the previous keyboard was the issue.It must have got damaged and the electronics were sending commands and deleting things. I will see if it also resolves the Hide issue.
Thank you all, and @DaveR appreciate the info - always good to learn. Will explore your suggestions. I just need to try to catch up on a week lost first tho! ><
Again thanks to all!
Best
Julian
I’d say you were spot on! The faulty keyboard must have been deleting it, insteading of hiding it!
Anyway, thanks to you Im back to loving SKP again 
I’m glad you figured it out. A faulty keyboard wasn’t high on my list of ideas to consider but it’s good you found it. Onward and upward.
