How to change Units Sketchup

The default unit of Sketchup is Inches and usually before you start drawing you need to change the unit of measurement. Sketchup’s unit parameter table is simple, but you should also set it up correctly to draw accurately and conveniently in Sketchup.

How to change Units in Sketchup

• Menu Window ->Model Info->Units
• Select Format (Architectural, Decimal, Engineering or Fractional)
• Select Precision
• Length snapping (see the note below before you enable it)
• Tick on Enable units format (Important! Correct Unit when using Dynamic, Layout or Measurement ….)
• Angle Units select Precision (rounded units)
• Angle Units Tick on Enable angle snapping (exact snapping and rounded dimensions with angle)

Things most users get wrong about Units

• Length snapping does NOT make you more accurate — it usually does the opposite, and it is ticked on by default in Decimal templates. When enabled, every point you click is rounded to the nearest snapping increment, so you can end up with geometry that is slightly off-size without realising it. For precise modelling most experienced users turn Enable length snapping OFF and instead type the exact dimension while drawing. Leave it on only if you are doing rough conceptual blocking.
• You do not have to change the model units just to enter a different unit — SketchUp reads the suffix you type. Even in an Inches model you can draw a line and type 1m or 50cm and press Enter; SketchUp converts it on the fly. The Units setting only controls how dimensions are displayed, not what you are allowed to type.
• Display Precision only affects the number you see — the geometry is always stored at full internal precision. A low precision (e.g. 0 decimal places) will round a 999.6 mm edge to “1000 mm” in the dialog even though the real edge is still 999.6 mm. If something refuses to snap or close cleanly, raise the precision temporarily so the rounding stops hiding the tiny error.
• If you are tired of resetting units on every new file, set them once and then save the model as your default template via File > Save As Template. New files then open with your preferred units, format and precision already applied.

Note: the Units options have lived under Window > Model Info > Units since SketchUp 2014 and are unchanged through the current SketchUp 2026 release. SketchUp is now a named-user subscription (no perpetual license has been sold since 2020), but the Units dialog works exactly the same in the subscription desktop app.