True ‘view only link’ viewing

For safety reasons I would like to be able to share a model with clients in view only mode on a browser but without them being able to download that file, opening it in the SketchUp app or make a physical copy of it on their own device.

If one wants to share a physical copy of the model, there is already a specific way of doing it but the ‘view only link’ sharing method should not allow this to happen, it is not a true ‘view only’ mode.

Is this possible?

Thanks, I was not very clear… my point was that currently by using this link, people can still open up the content in the SketchUp app from where they can download the file on their device…. Which kind of defies the point.

See attached snapshot from the browser which shows an ‘open in SketchUp’ button at the top. So this is not a true ‘view only’ …

Can you download this chair and modify it?

3D mode > chair - new link

It looks like this:

I tried it on my iPhone. If the chair model was shared, then I should able to open it in my browser. Unfortunately It doesn’t load at all.

Once a model is loaded in the browser however, there is a button at the top of the screen in safari for iOS which prompts you to view it in the SketchUp app, from where you can download it on the device… See attachment (sorry, didn’t upload last time)

Try the new link - Chair - new link

Yes, the link opened straight into my SketchUp app. Not in the browser.

I manually pasted it into the browser and it worked fine too. From there I was able to open it in the SketchUp app, then download it to my phone

Ok, thanks!


//edit
Please, disregard that, Gopal!
I should have asked the OP again and waited for a visual confirmation that he opened the link I gave, and not a model of his, even if he wrote: “Yes, the link opened straight into my SketchUp app. Not in the browser.”.

Hi Gopal!
Is it true that in iOS (iPhone) a shared model with new lab can be edited and saved in anyone’s account?

Did you change the idea of sharing and not editing/downloading? Or was it like that from the beginning?

You can use trimble connect to create “view” only 3d files - this is included with a SketchUp Pro subscription

How do you do that? Can one then open it in SketchUp Pro and ‘save as’ an editable file using a different name?
Thx

No, it will purely sit inside the trimble connect viewer unless you choose to make the file downloadable.

Publish it to a Connect project via the file menu in SketchUp

or upload it via connect.trimble.com.

Then in connect.trimble.com
Click the file and choose share, you’ll get a similar selection of options to things like Office.com and Google Drive in regards to who can see it and who can do what with it.

Thanks, that makes sense. I thought one was able to save it as a read only File which you could then email to someone else directly and they would not be able to edit or save etc but still navigate it inside SketchUp for desktop.

Thanks Mihai.

I think it actually works as expected.

When I opened my own model in SketchUp from the browser, I was still logged into the app using the same account as the one where I initiated the sharing.

So it’s fine. Apologies, your chair will only open I up in SketchUp app but cannot be downloaded further.

nice chair tho’ :slight_smile:

To be honest, that’s how I thought the view link worked on web/i.pad.

But it sounds like you are saying you can bypass that on IOS because you can save it in the view only app and move it elsewhere?

However, If I open this link in either browser OR in the SketchUp app on my iphone, I have no option to edit or save that I can see.

This link was created via app.sketchup.com

The link works fine and as expected actually Adam. When I did a testing on my mobile I was still logged into the app under the same user account which initiated the sharing so when I opened that file from the browser into the app again, there was no way of telling whether the file was actually downloaded or it was still the original file that I was seeing in Home… if it makes sense

Thanks all for your help Tho’

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It sounds like this turned out not to be an issue, but to clarify, even if you click a view-only link to a file you own, it should open in view-only mode on the web or in the iPad app. If you are seeing anything differently, please let us know.

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