Check Physical memory, first without Excel running, then with Excel and no error, then with Excel and error. Select Processes tab and sort on Memory. Is Excel at top? If that has somehow been set to a disk image or a CD/DVD location, you'll get that 'not enough space' message. The same may occur if the download target location is set to a non-available drive. This can happen when aliases are used and things have been copied (migrated) from another drive. Aug 31, 2020 Other Applications: Another cause of the excel memory error may be that the other applications on your PC are taking up the bulk of your ciomputer memory thereby leaving not enough memory for Excel to work with. There is not enough disk space. Free enough disk space, and then try again. Not enough memory to run Microsoft Excel. Please close other applications and try again. Excel cannot complete this task with available resources. Choose less data or close other applications. There isn't enough memory to complete this action. I worked in a shop for many years that used Access as their platform of choice. The application eventually got so large that it began hitting an internal memory limitation of Access 2003. They began experiencing the exact same problem that you are having. As you have noticed, there is no external indication of memory problems when this happens.
Summary :
Microsoft Office is world-famous assistance for work. It includes many practical programs, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Even Microsoft Outlook is available as a part of the Microsoft Office suite.
However, people complained they run into the error message: There is not enough memory or disk space and don’t know what to do.
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Message Saying There Is Not Enough Memory or Disk Space
Three of the most frequently used Microsoft programs are definitely: Microsoft Word (used to deal with word information), Microsoft Excel (used to organize and collect data in tabular form), and Microsoft PowerPoint (a useful tool for making a presentation). When you are trying to open the programs or perform an action in them, you may probably end up in failure; a prompt window will show up to prevent you from continuing what you are doing: There is not enough memory or disk space.
So what does the insufficient memory or disk space error mean? What causes this error to occur? How to fix there is insufficient memory Word or Excel? In the following content, I will answer these questions one by one.
MiniTool Solution is a software development company with a high reputation and it can help you solve almost every problem you can think of about computer, disk, and data.
The error message: There is insufficient disk space to complete operation may appear when you are copying files/folders. How to fix it properly?
Many people ask for help since the Excel or Word has insufficient memory; you can browse the examples in Microsoft Community and other forums.
Causes for Insufficient Memory or Disk Space
Many people reported they see the insufficient memory or disk space when opening Word 2016 Word. Till now, the not enough disk space problem is confirmed to show up on Office 2010, Office 2013 and Office 2016.
Our team made a study on the cause of this problem after investigating various users’ reports and find some common factors to trigger the problem in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft Word 2016 Insufficient Memory or Disk Space
- One: the Normal.dotm file is corrupted.
- Two: the font cache is corrupted.
- Three: the permissions on the font folder are not enough.
- Four: the Office installation is broken.
- Five: an Add-in has problem.
One: the Normal.dotm file is corrupted.
In general, the default font styles will be loaded automatically while you're opening Word. However, if the Normal.dotm file is damaged somehow, this process can’t be completed; then, the insufficient memory error will get thrown.
The easy way to fix the problem under such circumstances is forcing Windows to create a new .dotm file.
Two: the font cache is corrupted.
As mentioned in the previous cause, the font styles are loaded by default when opening Microsoft Office utilities. In fact, they are stored as cache in a font folder on Windows. Sometimes, the font folder may get damaged; then, you’ll receive the not enough memory/disk space error because the fonts used by the file you’re trying to open are included in that corrupted folder.
The easy way to eliminate the error is creating a .bat file that is capable of refreshing your font cache.
Three: the permissions on the font folder are not enough.
Similarly, if users don’t have the necessary permissions to access the corresponding font folder, they won’t be able to open the file.
In this case, you must gain enough permission before opening it by:
- Creating a new policy through Registry Editor
- Making use of a series of Powershell commands
Four: the Office installation is broken.
The error message will appear on your PC screen whether the install of Microsoft Office is incomplete or crippled (this may result from an AV scan).
If this is the root reason for causing the error, you should solve it by invoking Programs and Features to repair the Office installation.
Five: an Add-in has problem.
If any errors occurred on an Add-in, the Microsoft Word insufficient memory will be caused. Till now, several Word Add-ins are found to be responsible for the problem.
If this is the situation, you need to work things out by identifying the problematic Add-in and remove it from your list.
You may run into the following messages that indicate this error in Word:
- There is not enough memory or disk space to update the display.
- There is not enough memory or disk space to run Word.
- There is not enough memory or disk space to run the grammar checker.
- There is not enough memory or disk space to complete the operation.
- There is not enough memory or disk space to repaginate or print this document.
- There is not enough memory or disk space to display or print the picture.
- There is insufficient memory or disk space. Word cannot display the requested font.
- …
Excel Insufficient Disk Space
The error occurs frequently when users try to copy a large volume of data in the Excel sheets or add formulas to a very large worksheet area.
What’s the root reason for causing this? It’s actually the limitations built in Microsoft Excel.
- The memory of each Excel’s instance can’t be more than 2 GB (gigabyte).
- The source cells number should be less than 32,760 when you’re using a smart fill option.
- The maximum number of line feeds per cell is 253.
- The total number of rows and columns on a worksheet can’t be more than 1,048,576 and 16,384.
- A cell can’t contain characters more than 32,767. While the characters in a header or footer should be less than 255.
You may run into the following messages that indicate this error in Excel:
- Not enough system resources to display completely.
- There is not enough disk space. Free enough disk space, and then try again.
- Not enough memory to run Microsoft Excel. Please close other applications and try again.
- Excel cannot complete this task with available resources. Choose less data or close other applications.
- There isn't enough memory to complete this action. Try using less data or closing other applications. To increase memory availability, consider using a 64-bit version of Microsoft Excel or adding memory to your device.
- Microsoft Excel cannot open or save any more documents because there is not enough available memory or disk space. To make more memory available, close workbooks or programs you no longer need. To free disk space, delete files you no longer need from the disk you are saving to.
Fix There Is Not Enough Memory or Disk Space Error
First, please make sure your computer has enough memory or free disk space left. If not, you should delete unnecessary files and folders from the hard disk.
How to free up disk space:
- Delete data directly (retrieve deleted files on PC).
- Use Diskpart (recover data lost by DiskPart Clean).
- Use Command Prompt (recover files using CMD).
- Turn to Disk Cleanup (Disk Cleanup empty your Downloads folder).
- …
How to recover files lost when you are trying to get more memory and free disk space? Definitely, you need MiniTool Power Data Recovery, which enjoys a very good reputation in the industry.
Here’s a file recovery tutorial you should follow.
Step one: acquire a license for MiniTool Power Data Recovery and download the setup program of it. (If you don’t trust it, you can get the Trial Edition to experience first.)
Step two: run the setup program to finish software installation and launch it at the end of the process.
Step three: select This PC from the left pane if the drive contains lost files still exist. Otherwise, you should select Hard Disk Drive.
Step four: determine which partition contains the missing files; then, double click on it to start to full scan.
Step five: more and more files will be found while the scan is processing. Please browse the found items carefully and select the data you really want. (You should wait till the end of the scan to see the best recovery result.)
Step six: click on the Save button located in the bottom right corner. Then, choose a storage path for the files you have selected in the previous step and click on the OK button to confirm.
Now, you should wait for the recovery process to complete automatically.
FYI: what if your hard disk is corrupted and you can’t boot PC successfully? Please read this page to know how to recover data:
In the following content, I will provide other useful ways to fix the error in both Word and Excel when it is caused by other problems.
There Is Insufficient Memory Word
- Fix 1: rename Normal.dotm file.
- Fix 2: rebuild the font cache.
- Fix 3: gain necessary permissions.
- Fix 4: repair the Microsoft Office installation.
- Fix 5: remove the Add-ins.
Fix 1: rename Normal.dotm file.
The action of renaming the Normal.dotm file will force Microsoft Word to create a new file when you launch the program the next time; thus, the problem could be solved if it’s caused by a corrupted Normal.dotm file.
- Open Windows Explorer. (How to fix when Windows Explorer has a problem?)
- Open Local Disk (C:).
- Find and open the Users folder.
- Look for the folder with your username. Then, open it.
- Navigate to the AppData folder (which is not visible by default).
- Open Roaming, Microsoft, and Templates in older.
- Click View from the menu bar.
- Check File name extensions in the Show/hide area.
- Right click on the dotm file.
- Choose Rename.
- Add .old after Normal.dotm and press Enter.
- Choose Yes to confirm the change.
If you can't see the AppData folder, please read the How to fix when you can’t find the AppData folder part in this post carefully.
Fix 2: rebuild the font cache.
- Open up a Run dialog box by pressing Start +R or through other ways.
- Type notepad and hit Enter.
- Copy & paste the content listed below.
- Click on the X button and choose Save in the pop-up window.
- Give it a name with the extension of .bat.
- Click Save.
- Right click on the .bat file and choose Run as administrator.
- Wait for the process to complete.
Fix 3: gain necessary permissions.
- Open Run dialog.
- Type powershell and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
- Type Get-acl C:Windowsfontsarial.ttf | Set-Acl -path c:windowsfonts*.* and hit Enter.
- Type Get-acl C:Windowsfontsarial.ttf | Set-Acl -path c:windowsfonts and hit Enter.
- Wait for the commands to finish.
Fix 4: repair the Microsoft Office installation.
- Open up a Run dialog box by pressing Start +R or through other ways.
- Typecpl and click OK.
- Look for Microsoft Office from the list in Programs and Features window.
- Right click on Microsoft Office and choose Change.
- Choose Yes if there’s a User Account Control window appears.
- Check Quick Repair under How would you like to repair your Office programs.
- Click on the Repair button at the bottom and click Repair again in the confirmation window.
- Wait for the process to complete.
Fix 5: remove the Add-ins.
- Open the problematic program.
- Go to File > Options.
- Select Add-ins from the left-hand side of Word Options.
- Select Word Add-ins after Manage from the right panel and click Go.
- Uncheck all the options related to Add-in and click OK.
- Repeat step 2.
- Select COM Add-ins from the dropdown list of Manage and click Go.
- Repeat step 5.
- Close the program and open the Word file which triggered the previously.
- If the error doesn't appear, please check the options you unchecked in step 5 and step 8.
Once you can confirm which Add-in causes the error, you should select it in the Add-in menu and click Remove.
Other fixes:
- Turn off the Automatic Spelling Checking and Grammar Check.
- Reset the Registry Entries of Word.
- Run Microsoft Fix-It or Troubleshooting.
- Create SaveZoneInformation policy in Registry Editor.
There Is Insufficient Memory Excel
- Fix 1: select cells gradually.
- Fix 2: update drivers & disable hardware graphics acceleration.
- Fix 3: divide an Excel file into different workbooks.
- Fix 4: set to manage paging file size automatically.
Fix 1: select cells gradually.
- Please do the same for the following section of cells when you choose only part of the entire range you need to be filled.
- To make sure you won’t reach the limit, please select the last row of the previously filled section when you move on to the latter segments (the second, third, etc.).
- Just repeat this process to reach the end of the selection needed.
Fix 2.
Step 1: update drivers.
- Open Microsoft Excel.
- Select File, Account, and Office Update one after another.
- Click Update Now.
- Wait for it to complete.
Step 2: disable hardware graphics acceleration.
- Click File, Options, and Advanced.
- Look for Display area from the right panel.
- Uncheck Disable hardware graphics acceleration.
- Click OK.
Fix 3: divide an Excel file into different workbooks.
It’s a good choice to separate your big Excel files into a few workbooks and then open them in different instances of Excel. This reduces the possibility of getting the error caused by reaching the 2GB limitation for a single workbook.
Fix 4: set to manage paging file size automatically.
- Open Control Panel.
- Select System and Security.
- Click System.
- Select Advanced system settings from the left sidebar.
- Keep Advanced tab selected. Click Settings under the Performance area.
- Shift to Advanced tab.
- Click Change… under the Virtual memory area.
- Check Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
- Click on the OK button in all Windows to confirm changes.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, There is not enough memory or disk space is a common error on Windows. You may probably run into it when opening Word/Excel or other Office programs. The error will also occur suddenly when you’re performing actions in the programs.
In the previous parts, I have covered the possible reasons for leading to the error. Then, I have provided several solutions for fixing it yourself. Please read the above content carefully to solve your problem.
There Is Not Enough Memory or Disk Space FAQ
- Open File Explorer and look at the Devices and drives section.
- Open Disk Management and look at the capacity & free space of each drive.
- Open Settings -> choose System -> go to Storage option -> look at the Storage layout.
Nov 13, 2020 • Filed to: Recover & Repair Files • Proven solutions
'Hello. Whenever I click on my Excel, I keep getting this message: 'Not enough memory to run Microsoft Excel. Please close other applications and try again'. I have done that but the error persists. Please, what do I do?!'
SUMMARY
Microsoft Excel tends to experience memory issues more often than you think, the version of Microsoft notwithstanding. So, do not be shocked when you see the memory error message on your screen while you are trying to work with, or save, files to your Excel.
This article will show you the symptoms of this message and the different causes (to prevent the error from occurring in the future). Also, you will be given various solutions to try in getting rid of the error message, as well as comprehensive steps on how to fix any corrupt Excel file that may result from this error, using the Stellar File Repair software.
CONTENT:
Part 1: Excel Not Enough Memory Symptoms and Causes
For computer users, you may encounter any of the following error messages while working with a file on Microsoft Excel:
- Excel cannot complete this task with available resources. Choose less data or close other applications.
- Out of Memory
- Not enough System Resources to Display Completely
- There isn't enough memory to complete this action. Try using less data or closing other applications. To increase memory availability, consider:
-Using a 64-bit version of Microsoft Excel.
-Adding memory to your device.
If you have encountered any of these messages, then it's time to get full information on the causes and solutions. You may think you have it all figured out from the instructions in the error messages but these don't always reveal the real cause of the problem because of their generic nature.
But if you keep seeing the error while performing any of the functions below, then it is time to figure out what is happening within your file:
- Sorting
- Copy and pasting
- Running VBA
- Inserting a row or column
- Opening or closing your workbook
- Performing calculations
- Trying to delete a single row in an excel sheet
The causes of Excel Not Enough Memory error include:
- Trying to Copy Formulas over A Large Area: If your Excel file is large or contains many features, your memory resources may just be running low. Thus, you are most likely to receive these error messages when trying to copy or fill formulas into a large area on your worksheet. The Excel versions (Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and so on) 32-bit is limited because of the setting to 2GB (or 32,760 source cells in cases where you use a smart fill option) so trying to work with large sections of the worksheet will only trigger this error.
- Problems with Calculations: The error might be related to a recalculation of formulas when you insert rows and columns, copy and paste or perform calculations. For instance, say your spreadsheet contains a million formulas on a sheet, then you insert another column. Of course, Excel will have to recalculate all the formulas in your spreadsheet to make adjustments for the newly inserted column. In this case, you may receive the error message 'out of resources' depending on how complex your spreadsheet is, the bit capacity of your Excel, what formulas are involved and how your spreadsheet is built.
- Other Elements of Spreadsheet: There are other areas of Spreadsheets that can cause Excel memory errors such as complex PivotTables, excess shapes, macros, complex charts with many data points, and so on. Thus, your computer may have enough space in its local memory but excel will show 'Microsoft Excel cannot open or save any more documents because there is not enough available memory or disk space'. Issues like this are related to the security settings innate in Excel 2013 or Excel 2016.
- Other Applications: Another cause of the excel memory error may be that the other applications on your PC are taking up the bulk of your computer memory thereby leaving not enough memory for Excel to work with.
Part 2: How You Can Avoid Seeing This Error Message
Here are some actions to take to can avoid seeing the error message 'Excel Not Enough Memory':
- Perform the Selection of Cells Gradually: First select just the part that needs filling from the whole range of the spreadsheet before you do the same for the next section of cells and continuously, one at a time. To avoid reaching the limitations of your Excel, select on the last row of the section you previously filled before moving on to the second, the third segments, and so on until you reach the end of your selection.
- Separate your Excel file into different workbooks: Here, you can split up the large Excel file you are working with into different separate workbooks before going ahead to open each one in a different instance of Excel from the other to avoid complications that come from working with large files. By implication, each of these workbooks you open will use 2GB as its memory limitation so you get to avoid reaching the memory limitation of 2GB placed on Excel. To do this with the Move or Copy feature, follow these steps:
1) Choose the sheets from the Sheet tab. Right-click and choose 'Move or Copy' from the menu that pops up. You can choose several non-adjacent sheets by holding down the 'Ctrl' key and clicking them one after the other. You can also choose several adjacent sheets by holding down the 'Shift' key on your keyboard and selecting the first and last options on the Sheet tab.
2) In the pop-up window 'Move or Copy' window, opt for '(new book)' below the 'To book' list. Tick the option that says 'Create a copy'. Then choose 'OK'.
3) Your selected sheets have now been moved to a new workbook. Click on 'File'. Select 'Save' to save your new book.
- Use F10 Instead of F9 to Refresh Worksheets: You can refresh your Excel inside the Controller Excel link using either F9 or F10 but there is a difference between using either function. Using F9 will refresh all the sheets inside the whole spreadsheet file while using F10 will only refresh the sheet you are currently on. However, in cases where the current sheet has formulae referenced in the other sheets in the whole workbook, using F10 will refresh those sheets that contain the formulae. Use F10 to refresh because it is significantly faster than F9 in fetching values from your database. F9 is slower because it works with the entire worksheet at the same time, no matter the large size. Therefore, F10 is the best key to use for specialized or complex spreadsheets.
- Use manual calculation in the Excel-link workbook: This option works for solving the memory error that arises when your Excel has to recalculate and adjust the entire workbook each time you introduce new values in the worksheet. To manually recalculate within the workbook in Excel, follow these steps:
1) Select the 'File' tab
2) Click on 'Options' from the list provided on the left side of the screen
3) The 'Excel Options' window will appear. Select 'Formulas' from the list of options, also on the left.
4) Select the 'Manual' radio button which is found in the 'Calculation options' section. This automatically turns on the ability of Excel to engage in the manual calculation in the worksheets. Choose 'Manual' to make for automatic checking of the box 'Recalculate workbook before saving'. This option is important if you save worksheets frequently and do not want to wait to recalculate each time you do so. Choosing the 'Recalculate workbook before saving' will ensure that the option is not disabled.
If you don't mind the option of 'Recalculate workbook before saving' getting enabled as soon as manual calculation is turned on, then use this faster method to recalculate your worksheets manually:
1) Select 'Formulas'
2) From the 'Calculations Options' drop-down list, choose 'Manual'
3) Click the 'Calculate Sheet' options in the Calculation section or press 'Shift' and 'F9' keys together on your keyboard and the current worksheet you are working with will manually recalculate.
Video tutorial: There isn’t Enough Memory to Complete this Action in MS Excel
Part 3: How to Repair Excel Corrupted/Damaged by Various Reasons
Different software is available for repairing Microsoft Excel but we recommend the highly effective Stellar File Repair software. Stellar File Repair is a toolkit that resolves all kinds of file corruption challenges that arise in Microsoft Office application files and restores XLS/XLSX file data. This tool repairs corrupt or damaged files on Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. Besides, it repairs corrupt or damaged Zip files.
Its features for repairing Excel include: recovering tables, chart sheets, formula, etc; preserving cell formatting and worksheet properties, fixing corruptions as unreadable content, unrecognizable format, and so on. Stellar File Repair works for Microsoft Excel 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.
Excel Not Enough Memory Mac
Use the following simple steps to repair you are corrupted or damaged Excel and also, recover your data:
- First, download and install Stellar File Repair, then launch the software.
- On the home screen, choose the corrupt Excel file you wish to repair by clicking 'Browse'. If you don't know the path to locate the file on your system, just select 'Search' to find it
- Select 'Repair' to start the repair process
- After scanning, you will see a display of all the recoverable items on the left-hand panel of the software's interface. Double-click any item here to preview it.
- If you are satisfied with the result, select the 'Save File' option from the main menu to save the file that has been repaired.
- You will be prompted to provide the destination you desire to save the file, select 'OK'
- Afterward, an appropriate message to save the work will pop up on the screen.
Part 4: Other Common Excel Issues You May Encounter
Below are some of the common errors you may encounter as you use Excel, in addition to the already-discussed Excel memory error:
- 'There was a problem connecting to the server Excel' error: This error message shows up when Excel and Windows SharePoint Services prevent spreadsheet from getting correctly imported into Windows SharePoint. You can fix this problem by creating a new list which is based on your Excel workbook, changing the Site Settings, using a ULS Viewer downloaded from Microsoft's official website.
- 'There's a problem with this formula': This error is usually experienced in some Windows ten by users on their Excel. When trying to use a formula to make several different calculations, this error may prevent the function from happening. To fix this error, you can: make use of system separators, check the regional settings of your system, and change the correct spelling settings.
- 'Excel Online won't calculate/won't open': The large worksheets (big grids of rows and columns) and different parts that compose the Excel application slows down the calculation and analysis of data tasks. Therefore, this error is related to these tasks, as well as the size of the file you are using. Other factors at play include multithreaded calculation and the design and build of your worksheet. You can fix the problems with your Excel Online using these solutions: examine the formulas you use, open your workbook in Excel latest version, calculate across different workbooks, as well as limit the use of volatile functions.
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