This page lists major changes in software functionality from what is mentioned in the book. If there are any errors in printing, those go here as well. I only mention major functional changes here, everything else can be tracked in SketchUp’s Release Notes.

Changes for the 3rd Edition:

Add Location tool has new interface (changed with SU 2024.0)

As I describe here, the Add Location tool has received a complete makeover and is now better able to place your model and get location and terrain info. You also have better control now over the detail of the terrain that is being imported.

Desktop print dialog was simplified (changed with SU 2023.1)

With this release, scaled and tiled printing options (that I cover in Chapter 6) were removed from the desktop version of SketchUp. That was never overly well implemented and with those tasks being much more controllable in LayOut, this move makes sense. You can still print the current view in the desktop version, though.

Changes for the 2nd Edition:

Layers are now Tags (changed with SU 2020)

This is more of a semantic change than a functional one, but starting with this version, layers are now called “tags”. It does make sense to “tag” items in a 3D environment rather than layering them. But if that is the case, then I am missing the possibility to add multiple tags to the same object. Hopefully that will come with a future version.

SketchUp Free / Make (changed with SU 2018)

With the release of SketchUp 2018, Trimble decided to discontinue development on SketchUp Make, which had been the free version of SketchUp Pro. The free version of SketchUp going forward will be the online app that can be found at app.sketchup.com. For the time being, SketchUp Make 2017 (the latest released version) will remain available at the regular download location and can continue to be used.

While the free online version of SketchUp is very powerful (and available simply in a browser without requiring an installation), it has some limitations (compared to SketchUp Make. Here are the main differences:

  • The user interface is different from SketchUp Pro.
  • Extensions are not implemented in the web-based SketchUp app and can’t be used.
  • Editing materials is only available in a subscription based “SketchUp Shop” version, which also adds solid tools and import/export capabilities.
  • LayOut remains only available as part of the SketchUp Pro package.

Extension Manager (introduced with SU 2017)

The new Extension Manager dialog replaces the functionality of the two Preferences tabs shown below:

Extensions tab
Extensions Policy tab

You can reach the Extension Manager from the Windows > Extension Manager menu item. It’ll look like this:

Extension Manager dialog

In this dialog, you can manage extensions (enable, disable, uninstall, update), find out whether they have been signed and even install an extension from an RBZ file using the Install Extension button. You can also set your extension signing preferences from the dialog’s settings, too.