You are barking up the proverbial wrong tree.  Based on your post, you appear to need Sage 50C support which is a different forum.  You are in Sage 100. 

Subject: Addressing Support Concerns and Forum Etiquette in Sage 50C

Dear Sage Community and Sage Support Team,

I recently posted a query in the Sage 100 group by mistake, intending to seek help in the Sage 50C group. I appreciate corrections when navigating these forums, but I was disappointed by the unprofessional tone of a response that dismissed my post without constructive guidance. As a community, we can foster a more supportive environment by offering helpful redirection rather than curt remarks. For clarity, I’ve now joined the correct Sage 50C group to continue seeking solutions.

More broadly, I want to express my growing frustration with the lack of effective technical support from Sage. While the Community Hub is a valuable resource for peer-to-peer advice, it cannot replace Sage’s responsibility to provide timely and reliable technical assistance. Many of us, as paying customers, face recurring technical issues—such as Error 1004 in my case—that require proactive engagement and clear resolutions from Sage, not just workarounds shared among users.

I urge Sage to acknowledge these widespread concerns, improve communication, and enhance their support system to meet customer expectations. I also invite fellow community members to share their experiences and insights on how we can collectively advocate for better support.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to constructive discussions in the Sage 50C group.

Hi Dawie,

If you’re referring to BTMLINESOFT’s response, just a quick note—he’s not a Sage employee, and neither am I (nor are many of the folks who help out on the forum). Yes, his tone can come across a bit blunt—slight smile—but I like to think that’s just part of his unique charm. It’s not always easy to keep a community like this going strong, especially when people volunteer their time just to help others. BTMLINESOFT is actually one of the top contributors (possibly top 5!), and he’s helped a lot of members over time, including folks in similar situations. 

Hopefully, StevePavell had the right answer for you. If it was, it was fortunate that the error is from Sage BI with Excel and was common between applications. I would note that Sage KB - United States - Guest is the KB for Sage 50. I could not find this resolution in the Sage 50 KB which is something Sage should look at and address. 

Now, if your concern is more about Sage Support itself and what’s available, that’s absolutely a valid conversation to have. I’d encourage you to share that feedback directly with Sage—it’s important they hear it. But doing so here is not the right place. I wouldn’t want someone who’s trying to help (even if a bit bluntly) to be mistaken for someone who’s being unkind. He actually provided guidance to you with the correct information stating that you needed to be in the Sage 50 forum. 

Posting a message like this here, isn't the place. It does not reach the audience you want or give them the message you want to tell them. This is only Sage 100 users looking for help with Reporting and Analytics. If you prefer to continue this talk you can friend me and I would be more than glad to continue the conversation in our inbox. I hope that this gives you guidance as you continue to use the forum.

Hi T-Man,

Thank you for your thoughtful response and for clarifying BTMLINESOFT’s contributions to the community. I appreciate the time and effort volunteers like him put into helping users like me, and I’ll take his blunt tone as part of the passionate support this forum offers with a slight smile.

I’m grateful for the redirection to the Sage 50C forum and for StevePavell’s suggestion, though I’m still working through the Error 1004 issue.

I understand your point that this specific Sage 100 forum focuses on reporting and analytics, but I respectfully disagree that the Sage Community Hub isn’t the right place to raise concerns about Sage’s technical support. The Hub, as a Sage-operated platform, is designed for customers to connect, share knowledge, and address challenges. Part of that, in my view, includes advocating for improvements in Sage’s support system, especially when issues like Error 1004 aren’t adequately addressed in the Sage 50 Knowledge Base, as you noted.

I believe this is a conversation worth having here, as it affects many users across Sage products. While peer-to-peer advice is invaluable, Sage has a responsibility to provide timely and reliable technical assistance to its paying customers. I’d love to hear from other community members about their experiences with Sage support and ideas for how we can collectively encourage Sage to enhance their engagement, perhaps through better KB resources or more active staff involvement in the Hub.

I’ll also take your advice to share feedback directly with Sage and will explore those channels, although throughout my experience with Sage in South Africa over the last twenty years, I have my reservations.

If you’re open to continuing this discussion privately, I’d be happy to connect via email. Thank you again for your guidance and for keeping this community vibrant.

Best regards,
Dawie

Dawie,

If you are in South Africa is the Sage 50 you are referencing is the Sage 50 Cloud Pastel? If so, I pointed you to the wrong Sage 50 KB in my last post. It should have been Sage KB - South Africa - Guest. 

When I stated "I’d encourage you to share that feedback directly with Sage—it’s important they hear it. But doing so here is not the right place." I was specifically talking about the forum you were in. You and now I have hijacked this thread to talk about Sage support. A better place on the forum to raise your concern might be the General Discussion General Discussion - Sage 50cloud Pastel - Community Hub. This way others can see your concerns and respond to it. Specifically, those with Sage 50.

The Sage 100 product line is also supported through the resellers that is associated with the customer. That is why in the Sage 100 forum you will see a lot of references to have the user reach out to their reseller. I have been working with the Sage 100 product line (North America) for just shy of 30 years and I have seen how Sage has tried to build the community and use the forum to fill the needs of their customers. So definitely tell them what you think but do so in the right place and in the right way. The biggest issue you might find here is that this is the North America forum and it is handled by the North American division of Sage which can be run differently than the South Africa division of Sage. It is all under Sage, but they have different people who you would want to talk to about your issues.

Online conversations are difficult to determine the tone. No harm was intended. And, BTW, Steve Pavell is IMO one of the top SI consultants. I am not a Sage employee.

Online conversations are difficult to determine the tone. No harm was intended. And, BTW, Steve Pavell is IMO one of the top SI consultants. I am not a Sage employee.