Temporary Dimensions

Select something, then Option-click a face, edge or corner anywhere else in the model (Alt-click on Windows) to see how far the selection is from it. Click a dimension's label, type the distance it should be and press Enter, and the selection moves there. Nothing is kept in the model, and leaving gets you back to the tool you were using with the selection as it was.

In SketchUp, that's Tape Measure to find the gap, a sum in your head, then Move by the difference, and again when the number comes out wrong. SketchUp's own Dimension stays in the model and can't move anything.

If you have used Revit, it's the temporary dimension that shows on a selected element, which you click and type into. If you have used Figma, it's holding Option to see the distance to whatever you point at.

Works on
Groups and components	Anything selected, measured from its bounding box and moved as a whole
Several things at once	Measured from their combined bounding box and moved together
Faces and lines	Raw geometry inside an opened group, moved as Move moves it, so a selected face stretches what it bounds
Targets anywhere	A face, edge or corner outside the selection, also deep inside groups and components, scaled or mirrored

Bind D to it

SketchUp doesn't let an extension set a shortcut, so give it one yourself. Find Temporary Dimensions under Extensions › Aplo on the Shortcuts page of SketchUp's preferences (Window › Preferences on Windows, the SketchUp menu on a Mac) and bind it to D. The rest of this page assumes D, but any key works.

The menu item and the button in the Aplo Modelling toolbar enter it too.

Tap to stay, hold to peek

Tap D and you stay in Temporary Dimensions until you press D again or Esc, so you can measure and edit as often as you like. Hold D for longer than a third of a second and it's a peek, so the dimensions show while the key is down and letting go takes you straight back to the tool you were using.

Click a label during a peek and it becomes a stay, so letting go of D halfway through typing doesn't throw the edit away. It's pushed over the current tool, so you can enter it from Move, Push/Pull or Tape partway through, and pressing D again while you're in doesn't stack a second one.

Option-click the Target

The face, edge or corner you Option-click is the Target, and the Temporary dimensions run from the selection to it. Holding Option and moving the mouse picks too, so the dimensions follow the cursor until you find the one you want. SketchUp's inference picks it, so it's exactly the face, edge or corner the cursor shows. Nothing is shown until there is a Target, and it stays picked when you let go of Option, so moving the mouse across the model on the way to a label doesn't change it. Option-click somewhere else to pick a new one.

A dimension to a face or edge starts where you picked the Target and stays there, so you decide where it's drawn. A dimension to a corner starts at the corner. If the Target moves or turns, the dimensions follow it.

• A face is measured square to it, also for walls at an angle, from the nearest point of the selection. If the face runs through the selection, you get one dimension to each side of it.
• An edge is measured along the world axis square to it that points towards the selection. A level edge running at an angle in plan is measured square to it in plan.
• A corner gives one dimension for each of the three axes on which the selection is clear of it, so the offsets can be set one at a time.

Things that touch, a millimetre apart or less, show no dimension at all, rather than a row of zeros.

Cmd-click the Anchor

By default the dimensions start from the selection's bounding box, which is right for a quick measure. To measure from a particular part of the selection, Cmd-click one of its faces, edges or corners (Ctrl-click on Windows), or hold Cmd and move over them, and that's the Anchor. Cmd-click the Anchor again, or Cmd-click empty space, and it goes back to the bounding box.

Click a label and type

Click a dimension's label and it turns blue, and the Measurements box opens with Distance and its value. Type the distance it should be, in model units, so 1200, 1.2m or 3'6" are all fine, and press Enter. The selection moves along that dimension until the gap is what you typed, and the dimensions update to the new place.

The move stays Hot. Type another value and it re-tunes the same move instead of adding another, so however many times you try, one Undo takes it back. Esc closes the edit and keeps the Target, ready to click another label. Esc again leaves Temporary Dimensions.

Re-aim without leaving

A plain click selects what's under the cursor, as the Select tool does, and Shift-click adds to the selection. The Target stays, so you can measure the next thing from the same face. With nothing selected the status bar says Select what to move.

How it's used

Input	What it does
Tap D	Enters Temporary Dimensions and stays, until D again or Esc
Hold D	Peeks, and leaves when you let go
Option-click or Option-hover (Alt on Windows)	Picks the face, edge or corner as the Target
Cmd-click or Cmd-hover the selection (Ctrl on Windows)	Picks its face, edge or corner as the Anchor
Cmd-click the Anchor or empty space	Measures from the bounding box again
Click	Selects, as the Select tool does
Shift-click	Adds to the selection
Click a label	Turns it blue and opens the Measurements box
Type 1200 and Enter	Moves the selection to that distance
Type again	Re-tunes the same move
Esc during an edit	Closes the edit and keeps the Target
Esc	Leaves, back to the tool you were using
Undo	Takes back the move in one step