I cannot see/add/edit any categories or products through the admin area

[mc12345678]

Hi

Thanks for replying .

Re: Item 1 - There is not an "error" showing as such its simply not there ? I initially thought it was to do with the template that I installed but I have tried the classic default one and its the same on there.

I'm sorry, but what about that first statement seems error free? Information ought to show, in fact part of the screen is properly drawn for the categories display, but it stops just after the icons. Unless an admin template was installed (there are some available) then no, some other store side template would not have a direct impact on this one area of the store. BTW, thank you for also confirming that other areas of the admin function (template switching) unless you did that all with files and/or phpMyAdmin.
Have you done any of the following?

2. Have you created any syntax errors in your customizations and/or file edits?

A PHP syntax error will very often result in a blank screen, or a partially-blank screen.
When this happens, there is often also an entry in the server's errorlog, which you can often view via your hosting control panel area. But, sometimes you can't view that log without requesting your hosting company to access it for you, for privacy reasons. So, alternatively you can use the debug logging built-in to Zen Cart:

a) Check for the actual error messages in the store's myDebug-xxxxxxx.log files:

The built-in debug logging will create files in your website's /logs/ folder, named "myDebug-xxxxxx.log" (or "myDebug-adm-xxxxxxx.log" if they are from the admin side).
(If you're on an older version of Zen Cart such as v1.3.9 or v1.5.0 then these will be in the /cache/ folder instead of the /logs/ folder.)
(To access these files, use your FTP program to connect to your webserver. Your hosting company can help you with how to do that.)
(If there are no myDebug-xxxxxxxxxxx.log files in your /logs/ folder, then you might need to make your /logs/ folder writable. Contact your hosting company's help desk if you need assistance with that.)
You'll want to read the contents of these files to see what the actual PHP errors are.
Then search this FAQ area for your error message and/or see the "Dealing with Error Messages" section, later in this article.

NOTE: When errors start occurring, the number of log files in this folder can grow very quickly. You can purge them by using the Debug Log File Purge option from your Admin->Tools->Store Manager screen.
You will of course want to review the contents of those files first so you can address the problems they're recording.
If you don't purge them, it will eventually slow down your website's performance, and use up a large amount of disk space.


NOTE: If you're running Zen Cart v1.3.8 or older, you REALLY need to UPGRADE ASAP! In the meantime, to enable the debug logging on older versions, use the Debug Error-Logging Tool from our downloads area.

Item 2. I will have a look on the plug in and see if this helps
and Item 3 The import for importing products via cvs will also have to look at the plug in section for this

Tracey-ann

May I suggest EasyPopulate V4