Sketchup team…on Mac OS sketchup 2026 continues to show the welcome window on starting up the program even when turned off in the settings. is this a known issue? thanks!
Yes, this is caused by the manufacturer of Sketchup sending you advertisement (formerly also known as unwanted marketing messages or spam).
The phenomenon you mentioned does not spare users of Windows and previous SU versions either.
also, this is not the welcome window. the welcome window is the one that allows you to pick a recent project or a default template.
@colin could you pass on a small note to whoever decided/controls this and ask them to STOP IT!
Whooo, SU has AI, I know, I don’t care.
And yet … it’s title is “Welcome to SketchUp”
This dialog is the 1st time I can remember since I first used SU in 2004 that I’ve ever felt truly annoyed about anything SU related.
Also I’m on 2025 so this was injected into my install WITHOUT me performing an update….. not nice!
This is most likely just some form of web dialog. In that case nothing was injected into your install without performing an update..
Don’t make an elephant out of a mosquito!
This is true. However, if you click the “Start modelling” button, the “Welcome window” will open, which is the exact opposite of the behavior I set. (In my Settings there is no checkmark beside “Show Welcome Windows”)
So, there are two “mosquitoes that cause infection”:
-
They send unwanted advertising (spam)
-Allow me to unsubscribe from these - to me - very disturbing announcements. -
This unwanted advertising overwrites my settings.
-No one should change my own settings, no matter how small they may seem.
I agree that I can get over this problem with two or three clicks.
However, nowadays we get so much digital junk because the senders say it’s “small”. However, the weight of all these little “mosquitos” easily reaches the weight of many “elephants”.
In my opinion, the fewer mosquitoes you get bitten by, the better.
Or “This unwanted advertising CHANGED my settings.“
I have the Welcome screen set to off, and yet it pops up with advertising. I know this is not ‘the’ welcome screen, but it IS titled as such.
dezmo has been reporting the issue directly to the team.
I wonder if the ad thing persists only if you have chosen NOT to display the Welcome window. I have the Welcome window enabled, and I saw the ad only once (tap on wood).
The mosquito to elephant phrase was purely a reaction to the following:
As if Trimble hyjacked his computer and installed malware on it..
FWIW, I completely agree with you that this spam is very annoying!
I would love to see this spam go away. I’ve already paid for the software and resent being advertised to every time I open it
I saw it once then not again, for windows users I would suggest you may resolve this by doing the Right click, Run as Admin, repair, via a downloaded install exe.
Mac I have no idea.
Lucky you…
It would be nice if it were that simple.
But I’m afraid the marketing has blown the fuse, that’s why they push it to every supported version (not only 2026, but also earlier versions)
So far these dates I have got the spam (and reported):
Dec 16, 2025; Dec 19, 2025; Jan 11, 2026; Jan 18, 2026
It hasn’t shown up since, so I hope it was more of a mistake than a deliberate nuisance.
If this adds are still comes after this reports, then we can be sure that the marketing people’s express goal is to annoy me. 
@colin , @dramsay
I’m not sure if you understand, but the pop-ups that have been appearing recently - about once a week - when starting Sketchup (I tested it on versions 2026, 2025, 2023) and advertising AI are terribly disturbing to me and my workflow. These are unwanted advertisements (SPAM), and I definitely want to unsubscribe from them.
You can safely believe and assume that I am able to read the Release Notes, your Web pages… etc. and am aware of what new features have been added to the program. I don’t need constant warnings.
These advertisements also cause the Welcome to Sketchup window - where you have to select a template - to appear even though it is disabled in my settings.
None of the above phenomena are a good practice. Please let me know if you understand the problem and if you are taking measures to prevent them from happening. Thanks a lot, in advance!
So far these dates I have got the spam, and reported:
Dec 16, 2025; Dec 19, 2025; Jan 11, 2026; Jan 18, 2026
The last one happened yesterday, Jan 29, 2026 and for all three SU versions mentioned above, the ad was this:
Hi @dezmo , thank you for your feedback here. I agree with you this is annoying and we are making some structural changes to our in-app messaging systems to fix these popups. As of last week, this AI upsell message should not reappear if you click “Start Modeling”. Please let me know if it happens again.
@dramsay, Thanks for feedback. I really hope you are right and the above - or any other - message/pop-up/ad will not appear again.
You can be sure that I will speak up if it does happen again. 
@dramsay I’m still getting this message on start up
and I have “show welcome message” turned off in my preferences
Oh I know you will! 
Always here for it 