ERROR: ‘A critical error has been encountered.’

What to do if you see this message when running a report or process in Sage 50 Accounts.

When running reports or processes, for example a VAT return, you can see the error message:

'A critical error has been encountered. Information about the error has been saved to your desktop. Please contact Sage Customer Services for more information.'

This message usually appears when there's a large amount of data. You can use the Data Management feature to reduce the size of your data when possible. 

What is Data Management?

Use the Data Management feature to streamline daily processing. It alerts you when your data volumes approach our recommended levels and helps you safely remove infrequently viewed data. This can include customer and supplier records, audit trail transactions, and invoices. 

TIP: Find out more in our What is Data management? article. 

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Use Data Management

To tidy up your data, you can follow the steps in our How do I use Data management? article.

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Test the data locally

Check if the error occurs when your data is local to your computer. Follow the steps in our How to create a new set of data locally article.

If the error only occurs when your data is over your network, you may want to move your Sage 50 Accounts data to a different location. Consult your local IT support for help with this.