Activating SketchUp Pro

Opening SketchUp or Layout

Be sure you've already installed SketchUp Pro.

You need to Open and Activate your Subscription Plan or Trial for SketchUp before opening Layout or StyleBuilder for the first time so that you can agree to the License Agreement. Once you've completed that first operation, continue below.

On MacOS, go to the Applications folder and open the SketchUp folder with the year’s version you want to open. Open the SketchUp or Layout application within that folder.

You may want to right-click on the new icon in your dock, and select Options > Keep in Dock.

On Windows, SketchUp should have created shortcuts on your desktop, but you can also open it from C:\Program Files\SketchUp\SketchUp 2021 (or another year’s version number) by double-clicking on the program file.

You may want to then save the SketchUp and Layout app to your Taskbar or Start Menu icons and then delete the desktop shortcuts.

Activating with SketchUp Pro Subscription

You’ll need to be online to activate your paid plan.

  • A single-user license or subscription seat can only be used by the one registered/assigned user, but that user can activate their license or sign-in on 2 computers.
  • If you don't see the Welcome to SketchUp dialog box when you opened SketchUp, select Help > Welcome to SketchUp.

Upon opening SketchUp, you should see a screen that prompts you to sign in. At this point you need to stop and be sure of which of the 2 SketchUp Pro plan options you've purchased:

Not sure if you have a subscription plan? If you received an email with an account number, then you have the yearly sign-in-activation plan and don’t need or have a license number.

Haven’t purchased SketchUp yet? Simply sign-in to activate a trial of our highest-tier "Studio" plan!

Newer year-by-year Pro Subscription plans

If you signed up for a yearly Pro subscription or if you are a trial user, go ahead and sign-in with the end-user email address you selected when signing up. Signing-in will activate your subscription.

Important Note about Graphics Cards and System Requirements: We recommend having the most current drivers installed for your graphics card(s), and that you check to see if your computer meets our System Requirements.
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