I created a route in Garmin Connect and loaded it into my 1030+. It's a public route. I copied the link to the route and emailed it to a friend, who wants to upload the route to his Edge 1030. He can open and view the route on his desktop in Connect, but there is no "Send to Device" button appearing.
Garmin help and chat have been useless (Garmin manuals just seem to take you on an endless loop of 'information' that takes you back to where you started eventually without an answer) and when chatting with a support agent all I got was a link to the same manual.
Any ideas? There has to be some way to do this.

IIRC your buddy needs to download the route from your provided link, then upload the route into his Connect account.

Barry

Heaven forbid Garmin would make anything easy. I'll take a drive to his house tonight and see what we can do.

You need to export as a .tcx or .gpx. Click the gear symbol upper right of an activity, there's an export button. Then have your buddy do a new Course under Training - Activities - press the Import button in the dialog box.

You won't get the Send to Device button if you are not logged into Garmin Connect.

For activities, the send to device option is in the gear menu at the upper right.

This is is from somebody else's random course.

(The option for send to device is there if you are logged in.)

There isn't a export as TCX (or I'm not seeing it).

There is a Download FIT (along with Download GPX).

FIT works as well as TCX anyway.

People should know how to copy files this way in any case.

Once you have the file, just copy it to the \Garmin\NewFiles folder on your plugged-in device.

There is. Open an activity. Look upper right, there's a gear symbol (typical for setting. Click that, an option is export. Send to Device only sends to the devices registered for the account. Not really needed. If you create a Course and save on the website, it will show up on the mobile app. You can send to your device(s) from there next time the device is powered up and can sync.

There is also apparently a method of wireless transfer between Garmin computers, a la Apple Airdrop... But I don't know if Bald Paul and his friend will be physically together.

I've heard of this, never tried it. I think it gets setup in the Mobile app and uses the system that allow a device to see where other linked devices are located.

The "export original" is the FIT option.

I see that for my own activities but not for other people's (old?) activities.

It works. It can be bit fussy and kind of slow. But it can be useful. It doesn't use the phone/app (it's a true device-to-device transfer).

The 1040 doesn't support it.

It’s a really handy feature. Have used it a few times for unprepared Brevet riders.
I wonder why they dropped it?

You'd think such riders would know better!

Maybe, because it wasn't that reliable/easy-to-use. Maybe, because they needed room for other features.

Ah, the plot thickens.
The reason he doesn't get a "Send to Device" button is because the computer doesn't recognize the Edge at all. He's tried on a couple of different computers, using different USB cables and ports. I told him to try to reset the Edge (hold the power button in for 10 or more seconds to reboot it) and try again.

He might not have the correct USB cable. Garmins REQUIRE a cable that is either one that came supplied with the device or has been tested to pass data, Mine are labeled. The newer 1040 uses USB-C and seemingly works with anybodies A to C cable.

There are two types of USB cables:

1. Power only.
2. Data and power.

You need to use the second type.

(I’m repeating what Steve B said. Just a bit more simply.)

I’ve never really seen an issue with different Garmins/ports/computers outside of not using the right cable (except in really rare cases).

Well, don't ask me how or why, but the reset procedure seemed to work. He used the same USB cable (which was a genuine Garmin) and the computer 'saw' the Edge right away. He was able to load the route.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.

I like to use Garmin BaseCamp to manage my routes on my GPS devices. Then I don’t have to rely on the Connect on the web. The Connect is helpful but I find more cumbersome managing data. I can crave and drop routes and tracks to and from the devices. Use the USB cable.

I also use a Garmin Montana 610 for hiking, motorcycle and car. It’s not Connect compatible. One other advantage is finding and making gravel tracks / routes on the motorcycle is easier to modify and use in the Edge. The. It’s what you know.

I like BaseCamp but there are much easier tools to use to create routes.

And if the course you want to use is on Connect, using BaseCamp adds unnecessary complication (it certainly doesn't avoid using Connect).

In any case, the OP's problem had nothing at all with Connect and the problem he had would have prevented using BaseCamp too.