External links problem - unable to update External Data in v16

[smilesbest]

I use an Excel spreadsheet to maintain my product details. With v14 (and earlier) I was able to use the "Enable Updates to External Data" option, however with v16 this option appears not to work. When adding an external link I can tick all three boxes within the External Links dialog window but as soon as I browse and select my normal database name/link the middle box (Enable Updates to External Data) dims. I can "Auto map", click OK to exit as usual and an update of my products takes place. BUT if I look again at the External Links dialog window the "Enable Updates to External Data" tick box has become unchecked with the prompt greyed out and unusable.

After digging around I came across mention of "file permissions", yet having reverted back to v14 everything works as it should when linking the same Excel spreadsheet that fails in v16.

Any thoughts please?

[feemish]

I am having exactly this issue. Did you get it resolved?

I am using the same PC, and trying to link exactly the same Excel File.
It works fine in V14 but in V16 the 'enable updates to external data' is greyed out.

[feemish]

Would someone from Sellerdeck please comment on this?

It looks like Sellerdeck 16's external linking is no longer working properly.

[feemish]

I'm bumping this because I'm saddened by the lack of response from Sellerdeck on this issue.

I do not pay for 'Sellerdeck Cover' anymore, as, to be frank, I didn't find it good value for money when I did have it, and I believe any product *should* come with a degree of basic support for free anyway... plus I found that I got better and quicker replies on here!

It now looks like there is no free email support at all from Sellerdeck anymore. If you call the number the telephone message says that there is free email support available from the website... but there isn't any link for that.

So here I am, having paid for Sellerdeck16... and it doesn't link properly to an external spreadsheet anymore... which is a crucial part of how my business functions.... and there is no way of communicating with Sellerdeck regarding the issue! Seriously... what is going on?

[MattSMR]

Hi Feemish,

I can't attest to have trying the updates to external data as we only read to SellerDeck, but have you tried running SD as administrator and giving full permissions for read/write on the external file?

I'm sure you've already tried this, just trying to help!

[feemish]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the interest. Yes I am running SD16 as administrator, and yes the file permissions are set with full read / write.

I have SD14 on the same machine and it links to the same file without problem, and 'enable updates to external file' is ticked and working fine. Load up SD16 and it doesn't work.

Something has broken between V14 and V16. Whether it is the php upgrade? or some other factor I don't know.

What I do know is that no one from Sellerdeck will comment on here, despite them commenting on other threads... and there is no way to talk to Sellerdeck about it unless I pay the £545 a year for support! I did use to pay for the support, but to be honest I found the support on here better and quicker... (sadly not in this instance)... so I cancelled it. I won't be going back to it either.

[Mike Hughes]

When did you buy V16? You get 30 days of free support but I've no idea when the clock starts running.

[feemish]

past 30 days.. and just had it confirmed by Sellerdeck that there is no longer any free support for their products. I'm not even sure that it's legal to supply software and not to supply support if the product is faulty.

[chris ashdown]

By law it must be fit for purpose, that I guess would mean at least another person would be needed to prove it's not just you

Did the fault show up in the first 30 days?

If not fit for purpose guess you could go back to original version and claim damages and refund of your v16 version

[Mike Hughes]

There are a couple of things that disable external linking. Do either of these apply?

In single user mode you can also link to a spreadsheet, but spreadsheets cannot be used with external linking when running SellerDeck Business Plus or SellerDeck Enterprise with multiple users.

External linking is incompatible with Automatic Stock Synchronisation. If you wish to use Online Stock Control with External Linking, you should disable Automatic Stock Synchronisation, and Publish to Web on a regular basis to synchronise stock between the web site and the desktop.

[feemish]

By law it must be fit for purpose, that I guess would mean at least another person would be needed to prove it's not just you

Did the fault show up in the first 30 days?

If not fit for purpose guess you could go back to original version and claim damages and refund of your v16 version

Hi Chris,

The original poster had exactly the same issue. And anyone can check it by attempting to link to an Excel Spreadsheet as described above. 'Enable update to external data' is greyed out.

[feemish]

There are a couple of things that disable external linking. Do either of these apply?

Thanks Mike but neither of those apply. I have been externally linking to a spreadsheet since V7.. and 'updating external data' has worked fine in all versions until now.

[feemish]

yes.... until you try to do it!

[feemish]

I notice in your image there is no external spreadsheet chose or linked....
As soon as you choose an Excel spreadsheet and table and link to it, the 'enable updates to external data' greys out.

[feemish]

yeah cheers mate, thanks for looking!

So you can now see that the 'enable update to external data' greys out and is unavailable once you link up.

So for the Sellerdeck people who are watching this thread but not commenting.. That's three of us who can see this is broken in V16.