> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gingerbim.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connectors Overview

> Get models into GingerBIM: send directly from SketchUp or Rhino with a connector, or upload IFC.

GingerBIM accepts three types of model data: **SketchUp**, **Rhino**, and **IFC**.

For SketchUp and Rhino, a dedicated **connector** — a plugin with a GingerBIM panel inside the modelling tool — sends your model straight into a GingerBIM project and can [load models back](/connectors/loading-and-collaboration) into the file. IFC files are uploaded directly instead.

## Installing a connector

1. Open the [**Connectors** page](https://app.gingerbim.com/connectors) in the GingerBIM app.
2. Download the connector for your tool — **SketchUp** or **Rhino** — and install it. Both Windows and macOS are supported; on Windows the connector keeps itself up to date automatically, on macOS you install updates manually.
3. Open the GingerBIM panel inside SketchUp or Rhino and click **Sign in** — it opens your browser to authorise, then returns you to the connector.

## Sending a model

The connector organises your model into **component buckets** — Wall, Slab, Beam, Column, Door, Window, and so on — and sends whatever is in the buckets:

1. Add objects to their component buckets. Use **Auto-categorise** to sort objects automatically from your layer/tag names, or add them to a bucket manually — see [Categorising Objects](/connectors/categorising-objects).
2. Click **Send**, then pick the GingerBIM **project** and **model** to publish into (or create them from the connector — a new model takes a Building and a Discipline). Confirm with **Publish**.
3. Each publish creates a new **version** of the model in GingerBIM — your history stays intact, and collaborators see the update immediately.

Each bucket accepts specific geometry — a wall must be a closed solid, a door should be a block or component — so before you send, check the [Modelling Guidelines](/connectors/modelling-guidelines) for your tool.

<Note>
  When the slabs you're sending have changed, the connector offers to recalculate the building's **levels** from them — levels drive floor plans and space assignment in GingerBIM.
</Note>

## Uploading IFC

If your model comes from another BIM tool, export it as **IFC** and upload the file to a model on the project's **Models** tab. GingerBIM imports it and publishes it as a new version, keeping the IFC's classifications and property data.

## More than a one-way street

The connector also works in reverse: **Load** pulls a GingerBIM model back into SketchUp or Rhino, which is how teams use GingerBIM as the shared source of truth — see [Loading & Collaboration](/connectors/loading-and-collaboration). A central [Material Library](/connectors/material-library) that syncs materials through GingerBIM is in the works.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.