Everytime I try to change my SketchUp shortcuts in preferences my SketchUp crashes, I have tried this on different computers on different users and it always happens. I redownloaded 2021 and changing my shortcuts was not an issue.
There is a problem we know about, where if you change the default shortcuts to something that is different (like say changing Move from M to W), SketchUp can get locked up.
You could directly edit the settings file while SketchUp is closed. Open these two files in TextEdit:
~/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2021/SketchUp/SharedPreferences.json
~/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2022/SketchUp/SharedPreferences.json
You can go to Finder, and choose Go to Folder… from the Go menu. Paste in one of those two lines, and you will be shown the file to edit.
With both files open in TextEdit, look at the 2021 file, for the section that includes Shortcuts. Staying with the example of changing Move from M to W, look for this line:
"Shortcut_15": "0 0 0 W selectMoveTool:",
Copy the part between the second quotes:
0 0 0 W selectMoveTool:
go to the 2022 file and find this:
"Shortcut_15": "0 0 0 M selectMoveTool:",
select this part:
0 0 0 M selectMoveTool:
and paste in whatever you copied from the 2021 file.
Some numbers I gave may be different for you, so don’t copy the whole line, only copy the part between the second quotes, and only do the tools that you have made your own customer key presses for.
After the changes, save the 2022 version of that file, and close the document. Open SketchUp 2022 and it should have the same shortcuts you had in 2021.
This is a great help than you.
Whilst you’re here, I’m trying to assign the spacebar to the ‘pan’ function, however I can’t seem to copy this over from my 2021 Text Edit. Are you able to advise?
I’ve tried simply pressing the space bar and also writing ‘Space’ in the ‘key field’, but it reverts back to ‘H’.
Many thanks,
Space bar is the standard key for the Select tool. If you want to use it for pan, come up with something else for the Select tool, that isn’t used by any other tool.
You could switch them for a test. Make H be the Select tool. So, the line in the json file that ends with this:
"0 0 0 selectSelectionTool:",
would become:
"0 0 0 H selectSelectionTool:",
and this line:
"0 0 0 H selectDollyTool:",
would become:
"0 0 0 selectDollyTool:",
As it’s hard to see where the space characters are, copying everything from between the last 0 and the first letter, would make sure you’re copying the space that is needed, and the one that are separators.
This is great thank you Colin.
Initially I couldn’t assign another key to ‘selectSelectionTool’ via Text Edit, however simply going back into preferences allowed me to do it - initially this route struggled also.
So we’re back on track : )
Thank you for your help,
Kind regards,
Hi Colin,
I don’t have SU 2021 to copy and paste from. I have 2022 freshly installed on new MacBook Pro 14 M1 Pro and have my preferred shortcuts written down from my old PC ready to input. I’ve followed your instructions to the textedit file, however, some of the shortcuts I’d like to add aren’t listed there. Could you advise a workflow to solve this issue?
Thank you.
You only need to edit the text file if the built in shortcuts cause SketchUp to hang. That only happens if you try to change the default keys.
If you want to change the default keys and you see that problem, you could show what your PC keys looked like, then I can tell you what to add to the Mac file. The way it works is different on the two platforms.
Thanks Colin. Yes, I’ve tried changing shortcuts and sketch up hangs, that’s how I ended up in this forum.
All shortcuts except one are in the textedit and attached is what I’d like to change them to. The only shortcut not in the textedit is that id like to make Q the camera/lookaround shortcut.
Command . will give you the look around tool. If you also go into preferences and add say Shift-Q to select the look around tool, and close SketchUp, you will see this line appear in that list:
"Shortcut_20": "0 0 1 Q selectTurnTool:",
To change that to be Q on its own, change it to:
"Shortcut_20": "0 0 0 Q selectTurnTool:",
That will then clash with the Rotate tool, so change this line to use a different key for the rotate tool:
"Shortcut_11": "0 0 0 Q selectRotateTool:",
The number, _20 for example, is likely to be different in your text file. Don’t change the number to match the one that is in my file.
All sorted. Thanks Colin
Hi Colin, this folder doesn’t even exist when I try to access this file - any idea where I can find it? Basically in Application Support, Sketchup doesn’t exist.
Are you perhaps looking at /Library not ~/Library? By default Finder hides ~/Library so you might not think it exists. You need to use Finder’s Go->Go To Folder menu to enter that path.
Yes, what slbaumgartner says. When I give a path like that I put it into a code block, so that you should be able to copy the whole path without getting anything from before or after it. If you didn’t copy the ~ first character you would end up in the wrong place.
Oh! thanks! yes, sorry I’m new to mac OS so still wondering how to unhide all these hidden folders and files…
First link to turn up searching for ‘show hidden folders on mac’.
How to Access Your Mac's Hidden Files | PCMag.
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