Why is Import and export greyed out in SQL Express

IS the wizard installed on your computer?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/integration-services/import-export-data/start-the-sql-server-import-and-export-wizard?view=sql-server-2017

Also note if it's not available in SQL express directly you may be able to download the stand alone SSMS and connect to sql express that way.  Try that and see if the import / export is still greyed out.

It shows the wizard is available for importing flat file so I'm guessing it would be available for ordinary import and export. Please correct me if you think I'm wrong here.

It might not be.  What version of SQL Express are you running?

I confirmed that I can run an export data on SQL express with SSMS 17.8.1

It might be the version of SSMS you have or it could be you missed something during the installation of sql express.

Management Studio Version 18 Preview 4
15.0.18040.0
Do you think I should uninstall and reinstall ?

Never hurts to upgrade to the latest version.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms?view=sql-server-2017

Same one already installed.
I went ahead and uninstalled it and did a reinstall and downloaded accompanying links.
Still same problem.
Have you any details of where I can contact the SQL team ? I need to sort this one way or another
many thanks
Ian

That solved that problem thanks
Now a new problem is error
ace.oledb.16.0 not in local machine
I have downloaded the two Access components from MS
and installed them but still asking to register on local machine
how do I do that ?

Here are the message details. They are all gobbledegook to my eyes

The 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.16.0' provider is not registered on the local machine. (System.Data)

------------------------------
Program Location:

   at System.Data.OleDb.OleDbServicesWrapper.GetDataSource(OleDbConnectionString constr, DataSourceWrapper& datasrcWrapper)
   at System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnectionInternal..ctor(OleDbConnectionString constr, OleDbConnection connection)
   at System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, DbConnectionPoolKey poolKey, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningObject)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, DbConnectionPoolKey poolKey, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionOptions userOptions)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreateNonPooledConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionPoolGroup poolGroup, DbConnectionOptions userOptions)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal oldConnection, DbConnectionInternal& connection)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionInternal.TryOpenConnectionInternal(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.TryOpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionInternal.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory)
   at System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection.Open()
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.DtsWizard.DTSWizard.GetOpenedConnection(WizardInputs wizardInputs, String connEntryName)
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.DtsWizard.Step1.OnLeavePage(LeavePageEventArgs e)

I've now installed the 17.8.1 version and again the same error message  Microsoft ACE.OLEDB.12.0 is not registered on the local machine. (System.Data)
As you can see this version mentions the OLDB 12.0 whilst the 17.9 version was 16.0
If I can't sort it this time I will have to give up and grow mushrooms. :)

Thanks Kyle the version you suggested solved the greyed out problem.
I will start a new question re above problem.