Installation

Archeform BIM installs like any other SketchUp extension: one .rbz file through the Extension Manager.

What you need

SketchUp	Pro or Studio, 2024 / 2025 / 2026
System	Windows or macOS
Not supported	SketchUp Go and SketchUp Free

SketchUp Go runs in a browser and has no Ruby API, so no extension can run there — not ours and not anybody else’s. Archeform needs the desktop application.

Full IFC needs SketchUp 2026

Every drawing tool works the same on all three versions. IFC export does not: SketchUp’s own exporter reads element classification from a different schema depending on version, and only the 2026 one carries names, IDs and quantities through. On 2024 and 2025 you still get a valid IFC file with the right element types — just without the metadata that makes it useful. Details and the reasoning are on Supported versions and What gets exported.

Install

1. Download the installer from the download page — a single file named like archeform_bim_1.0.5.rbz.
2. In SketchUp open Window → Extension Manager.
3. Click Install Extension and choose the downloaded .rbz.
4. Confirm the security prompt if SketchUp shows one.
5. Restart SketchUp. Menus and palettes are registered once at start-up, so the extension is not fully available until you do.

The extension is digitally signed, so the Extension Manager lists it as Signed and it loads under SketchUp’s default loading policy — you do not need to switch to Unrestricted.

What you should see

After the restart:

• The Project palette opens by itself. It is the organiser — storeys, plans, elevations and sections.
• Extensions → Archeform appears in the menu bar.
• The Archeform toolbar appears, with the sixteen drawing tools. SketchUp remembers whether it was showing when you last quit.

If nothing appears, go to Troubleshooting.

Where the files land

You do not need this to work, only to describe your installation when something goes wrong.

Windows   %APPDATA%\SketchUp\SketchUp 2026\SketchUp\Plugins\
macOS     ~/Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2026/SketchUp/Plugins/

Each SketchUp version has its own Plugins folder. Installing into 2026 does not put the extension into 2025 — if you run both, install it twice.

Updating

Install the new .rbz over the old one through the Extension Manager and restart. You do not need to uninstall first.

Your settings and libraries survive an update, because they live outside the extension folder:

• tool defaults, in SketchUp’s own preferences
• your composition and material libraries, your licence and the hatch cache, in the .se_bim folder in your home folder (~/.se_bim on macOS, C:\Users\<you>\.se_bim on Windows)
• your object library, wherever you pointed it in the Object palette

Removing it

Window → Extension Manager, find Archeform BIM, click Uninstall.

Models you already made stay readable — the geometry is ordinary SketchUp groups. What you lose is the data on them: without the extension the elements no longer rebuild, and the dialogs, drawings and IFC export are gone.