Update on this issue....we tried uninstalling and then re-installing Sage Accounts V30 with Sage's technical support guidance, as well as various other solutions.  Nothing worked and eventually the issue was escalated.  Sage have now managed to replicate the problem themselves - it seems it only happens when you have an existing Sage 50 Accounts that you upgrade to v30 and have Sage 50 payroll v30 installed.  They couldn't replicate at first because they were using a brand new install.  The problem apparently occurs because for the first time (in v.30), Accounts and Payroll are sharing the Report Designer database.

They are currently working on a fix for this, and in the meantime we are having to work on a stand-alone PC with v29.2 of Accounts as a work around.

The good news is that they now (finally!) acknowledge this is not environmental, or anything we have done, but is a bug within Sage.

Thanks for persevering with this Claire, let's hope they resolve this soon.

Final update: Sage have investigated this issue and now established that the problem is caused by the following:  The latest version of Sage (v.30) has the option to install as 32-bit or 64-bit. 

We installed as 32-bit (thinking that, as this was the first time they had used 64-bit that it would be more prone to bugs), and this has caused the issue with Report Designer. 

As a workaround, you will need to uninstall Accounts and Payroll and re-install using the 64-bit option.  They have told us they are working on a fix, but that in any case they will probably withdraw the 32-bit option at the next upgrade...so I am guessing they won't be working too hard on finding the fix...

Hi Claire - I assume that this is only an issue if the 32 bit version of accounts was previously installed and the 64 bit version is then installed alongside the existing 32 bit version of payroll (I'm assuming that payroll will remain 32 bit for now?) I'm going to try removing all Sage accounts and payroll versions on one of my PC's with the fault, and do a clean install of Payroll 32 and Accounts 64 and see if that fixes it. I'm not holding my breath......I wonder if it makes a difference which one is installed first?

The issue occurs with the latest version (v.30) of Sage Accounts that gives you a choice of 32-bit or 64-bit.....but only if you install the 32-bit version of Sage Accounts.

You will need to reinstall Sage Accounts using 64-bit and yes, Payroll is 32-bit for now, although Sage didn't say if that was changing that to 64-bit eventually.

Sage didn't give us any feedback on which to install first, so until we try it we are in the dark - let us know how you get on.

I removed all the old versions of Sage Accounts and Payroll, and also removed version 30 of both. I manually deleted all the Sage related folders in Program Files and Program Files (x86).

I then installed Accounts v30 64 bit first, then Payroll v30 32 bit next - I had to delete Payroll.ini as well to stop the installer prompting for an existing installation to upgrade.

After this laborious process, I am able to edit a report in Payroll Report Designer - which shows as v5.0.352.0.

In Accounts 64 bit v30, the Report Designer version is reported as v6.0.3.0

So they are not sharing the same version of Report Designer.

But at least they both work!

Hope this helps.

Thanks Stephen, that's really helpful.

Thanks Stephen, that's really helpful.