"This model was created with a newer version of SketchUp"
SketchUp opens files from its own version and older ones, never newer. SketchUp Make 2017, the last desktop version without a subscription, and older Pro licences can't open anything saved in SketchUp 2018 or later; files from 2021 on even use a different container. The only way back in SketchUp itself is "Save As" an older version, which needs a newer SketchUp in the first place.
Saving a newer model for SketchUp 2017
Upload the .skp above (from any version up to SketchUp 2026). The model is read and written
again in the SketchUp 2017 format, which SketchUp Make 2017, SketchUp Pro 2017 and every later
version open. What comes along:
- all geometry, with each edge's soft, smooth and hidden setting, so curved surfaces stay smooth;
- components and groups, nested as they were, with their names, positions and attributes;
- tags (layers) with their colours and visibility;
- materials, with their texture pictures, texture placement and transparency; colourised textures keep their colour;
- the model's units, so a model drawn in millimetres still measures in millimetres;
- texts, dimensions, guide lines and points, and section planes.
What the 2017 file can't hold is listed on the result page with counts: scenes and styles are not carried over, and the file opens in the standard iso view with the default style.
Checked against the original
Every converted model is read back after writing. In the test files (from SketchUp 3 to SketchUp 2026, up to 43,000 faces), the 2017 file has the same faces, components, groups and placements as the original, and the same surface area and size.
Also useful
The same upload gives you STL, OBJ and GLB exports, so you can also take the model to Blender or a 3D printer. Several files at once, or a ZIP of a project folder, are converted together; the file with the most of the model is used when you upload a model and its backups.
More about what this tool reads and writes: SketchUp File Repair and Converter (SKP to 2017, STL, OBJ).