Trimble Connect in SketchUp for Desktop

Trimble Connect and SketchUp work together to help you access and modify cloud-based models. When you save a model to Trimble Connect from SketchUp for Desktop, changes are saved and available to teammates or other stakeholders who access that file through Trimble Connect. This means your teammates and stakeholders can view or modify your models across all flavors of SketchUp! 

Trimble Connect uses Projects to help organize files. A Project is best described as a collection of files with a common initiative in mind. Each Project can contain any number of files related to an initiative, and not just SketchUp models.

In SketchUp for Desktop, you can find the key actions for working with cloud-based files in the File menu, under Trimble Connect.  

For more details, see Using Trimble Connect with SketchUp. 

Referencing Files with Trimble Connect

A great way to work with larger models, especially when multiple people need to work on them at the same time, is to break that model down into smaller, individual files. With Trimble Connect you can reference each of those smaller files in one large master file. Anytime someone updates one of the smaller files, those changes will be reflected in the master file. 

To begin using references follow these steps: 

  1. Establish a common reference point or set of points for use between all files. Examples include a geolocated area, a floorplan, or specific coordinates on a grid. 
  2. Create the master file using that common reference point. The master file can be saved locally or published to Trimble Connect. 
  3. For each reference file, create a copy of the master file. 
  4. Once work in a reference file is complete, save the file and publish it to Connect. 
  5. Open the master file and select Import Visual Reference Model from the File menu or the Trimble Connect toolbar. 
  6. Add each reference as needed. 
  7. Save your master file locally to permanently include the visual references. 
Warning: If you publish a master file containing visual references to Trimble Connect without saving locally first you lose those references. 

If changes are made to a referenced file, you can update the master file using the Linked Models tab in the Trimble Connect Collaboration Manager. 

 

Referenced models with updates will have a download icon () next to them. Click the icon to update the reference in the master file.

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