The command Extract Solid from Surface has a bug when you enter a value with a decimal value, where it doesn't accept either a comma sign (,) or a period sign (.) before the decimal value.  The workaround is to type the value you require in Notepad and then copy that text and paste it into the Extract Solid from Surface dialog box. Note that you can't use Ctrl+P to paste, you need to right-click in the box to Paste the value.

When a Data Shortcut or an External Reference has been updated, there should be a notification bubble pop up on your screen at the bottom left.  This bubbles behaviour is controlled by the command TRAYSETTINGS, so if it doesn't show up (or if you want to change the behaviour of it) start looking at the settings in TRAYSETTINGS.  But if the bubble still doesn't show up, and you have two or more screens, that might be an issue for you.