Not Enough Memory Excel For Mac 2011

When i try and run a simple sort command on my mac using excel i get 'not enough memory' - i have just - Answered by a verified Microsoft Office Technician We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website. Excel 'not enough memory or disk space error' message. Kaptain1 asked on 2011-11-30. Microsoft Office. Commented: 2011-12-01. This problem has been solved! Not knowing the inner workings of Excel, I can't say why it worked so long with the extraneous data and then all but crashed. Maybe Excel has a problem with memory management. 31 people found this reply helpful.

Microsoft Excel for Mac 2011 was crashing whenever I attempted to open iton a MacBook Pro laptop I use. Whenever I attempted to reopen it, I would bepresented one by one with files to reopen that had been open when it crashed.

If I chose to reopen all of the workbooks, it would display the message 'Notenough memory.' then crash again. The problem occurred even afterI closed other applications that were open and rebooted the systemto minimize the amount of memory used by other processes runningon the system.

Whenever you attempt to reopen Excel after it has crased with files open,it may prompt you to recover changes to those files from AutoRecovery filesit created. The AutoRecovery files for Microsoft Office 2011 arestored under a user's home directory at ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecovery. For Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac they are storedat ~Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office2008/AutoRecovery.

The files are stored as Excel binary worksheet (BIFF12) .xlsb files, even if the original fileyou had opened was an Excel Binary File Format .xls or Office Open XML-based and macro-enabled file - seeFile formats that are supported in Excel for further information on Excel file formats. The XLSB format is alsoreferred to as BIFF12, which stands for 'binary file format for Office 12', which was introduced in Microsoft Office 2007, which was codenamed 'Office 12', and supported in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac and later versions. An XLSBfile is a ZIP containeras are .docx filescreated by Microsoft Word. On a Mac OS X system, you can extract thecontents of a .xlsb file, if it hasn't been corrupted by an Excel crash, from a command line interface (CLI) using the Terminal application found in /Applications/Utilities, e.g.unzip example.xlsb.

I copied one of the files that I had edited, for which I needed the latestversion to retain changes I had made to the document in the last week, to another location, but found that it was only 171 bytes, far toosmall to contain all of the data in the spreadsheet. The originalfile name was MSGRS.xls whereas the AutoRecovery filewas named ~$MSGRS (version 1).xlsb . Note: if you seea '$' in the file name you will need to 'escape' its meaning witha backslash character which serves as an escape character, taking away its special meaning to a Bash shell, when copying the file with the cp command.

Note: if you are copying the file from directory where Microsoft Office stores the AutoRecovery files from a Terminal window without enclosing the path in quotes, you will also need to use the backslash character to'escape' the spaces and parentheses by placing it immediately before thosecharacters. Otherwise you will receive an 'unexpected token error message.

In this case, I couldn't extract the contents for the .xlsb file withthe unzip utility, since it was a corrupted, incomplete file.

On a system running Apple's OS X operating system, crash reports for auser's account are stored in ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/,so I checked on the file name for the last Excel crash report. Crash reportsare stored with a file name that begins with the application name, whichis followed by a time stamp, then the name of the system, and then a.crash at the end of the file name.

When I checked on what was listed for the cause of the crash in the filesby looking for the line that immediately follows the 'Application SpecificInformation:' line in the files with grep -A 1 'Application SpecificInformation:, I saw 'stack overflow' listed for the last three crashes.

I wasn't able to determine the cause of the stack overflow, but, sinceI saw several files only 171 bytes in length in the AutoRecovery directory,which meant I wouldn't actually be able to use them to recover any recentchanges, and, other than the MSGRS.xls one, whichappeared to be unrecoverable at this point, I didn't need to recoverany of the others, I chose to reopen Excel again, but not attemptto reopen any of the previously opened files when I was promptedto reopen them. That allowed Excel to open normally without crashing.After re-entering data into the last saved version of theMSGRS.xls spreadsheet, when I closed Excel, I saw thatthere were no longer any files in the AutoRecovery folder.

I later noticed that Excel, when itautosaves documents, willput a file with 'AutoSave' at the beginning of the file name in theAutoRecovery directory. E.g., I saw the following when I had a filenamed pending_removal.csv open in Excel.

References:

  1. Microsoft Excel quit unexpectedly
    Date: March 11, 2016
    MoonPoint Support
  2. New Binary File Format for Spreadsheets
    By: Doug Mahugh/Microsoft
    Date: August 22, 2006
    Microsoft Software DeveloperNetwork (MSDN) Blogs
  3. Determining the version of Microsoft Word used to edit a .docx Document
    Date: December 31, 2104
    MoonPoint Support
  4. File formats that are supported in Excel
    Microsoft Office help and training - Office Support

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.

Quick Navigation :

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.

Note:Outlook there is not enough memory or disk space to complete the operation is also a common problem to affect users.

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

  1. One: the Normal.dotm file is corrupted.
  2. Two: the font cache is corrupted.
  3. Three: the permissions on the font folder are not enough.
  4. Four: the Office installation is broken.
  5. 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.

Not

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.

Not Enough Memory Excel For Mac 2011

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

Not Enough Memory Excel For Mac 2011
  1. Fix 1: rename Normal.dotm file.
  2. Fix 2: rebuild the font cache.
  3. Fix 3: gain necessary permissions.
  4. Fix 4: repair the Microsoft Office installation.
  5. 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.

  1. Open Windows Explorer. (How to fix when Windows Explorer has a problem?)
  2. Open Local Disk (C:).
  3. Find and open the Users folder.
  4. Look for the folder with your username. Then, open it.
  5. Navigate to the AppData folder (which is not visible by default).
  6. Open Roaming, Microsoft, and Templates in older.
  7. Click View from the menu bar.
  8. Check File name extensions in the Show/hide area.
  9. Right click on the dotm file.
  10. Choose Rename.
  11. Add .old after Normal.dotm and press Enter.
  12. 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.

Tip: You can also try to fix the error by deleting the Normal Template.

Fix 2: rebuild the font cache.

Not Enough Memory Excel Mac

  1. Open up a Run dialog box by pressing Start +R or through other ways.
  2. Type notepad and hit Enter.
  3. Copy & paste the content listed below.
  4. Click on the X button and choose Save in the pop-up window.
  5. Give it a name with the extension of .bat.
  6. Click Save.
  7. Right click on the .bat file and choose Run as administrator.
  8. Wait for the process to complete.

Fix 3: gain necessary permissions.

  1. Open Run dialog.
  2. Type powershell and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
  3. Type Get-acl C:Windowsfontsarial.ttf | Set-Acl -path c:windowsfonts*.* and hit Enter.
  4. Type Get-acl C:Windowsfontsarial.ttf | Set-Acl -path c:windowsfonts and hit Enter.
  5. Wait for the commands to finish.

Fix 4: repair the Microsoft Office installation.

  1. Open up a Run dialog box by pressing Start +R or through other ways.
  2. Typecpl and click OK.
  3. Look for Microsoft Office from the list in Programs and Features window.
  4. Right click on Microsoft Office and choose Change.
  5. Choose Yes if there’s a User Account Control window appears.
  6. Check Quick Repair under How would you like to repair your Office programs.
  7. Click on the Repair button at the bottom and click Repair again in the confirmation window.
  8. Wait for the process to complete.

Fix 5: remove the Add-ins.

  1. Open the problematic program.
  2. Go to File > Options.
  3. Select Add-ins from the left-hand side of Word Options.
  4. Select Word Add-ins after Manage from the right panel and click Go.
  5. Uncheck all the options related to Add-in and click OK.
  6. Repeat step 2.
  7. Select COM Add-ins from the dropdown list of Manage and click Go.
  8. Repeat step 5.
  9. Close the program and open the Word file which triggered the previously.
  10. If the error doesn't appear, please check the options you unchecked in step 5 and step 8.
Not enough memory excel mac

Not Enough Memory Excel For Mac 2011 Version

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

  1. Fix 1: select cells gradually.
  2. Fix 2: update drivers & disable hardware graphics acceleration.
  3. Fix 3: divide an Excel file into different workbooks.
  4. 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.

  1. Open Microsoft Excel.
  2. Select File, Account, and Office Update one after another.
  3. Click Update Now.
  4. Wait for it to complete.

Step 2: disable hardware graphics acceleration.

  1. Click File, Options, and Advanced.
  2. Look for Display area from the right panel.
  3. Uncheck Disable hardware graphics acceleration.
  4. 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.

  1. Open Control Panel.
  2. Select System and Security.
  3. Click System.
  4. Select Advanced system settings from the left sidebar.
  5. Keep Advanced tab selected. Click Settings under the Performance area.
  6. Shift to Advanced tab.
  7. Click Change… under the Virtual memory area.
  8. Check Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
  9. 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

Disk space, which is also known as disk storage, storage capacity, or hard drive capacity, refers to the maximum amount of files that a disk or drive can keep. Everything you installed on the computer will take up some disk space: operating system, applications, and personal data.
What does it mean when it says there is not enough disk space?
If you’re receiving an error message saying that your computer doesn't have enough disk space, it means that there is little free space left on your hard drive. Another unusual reason for causing this is that your hard drive runs into problem and needs to be fixed.
What does it mean when Excel says there is not enough disk space?
If you see the error message there is not enough available memory or disk space in Excel, it means you can't open the Excel or save more documents. What you should do at this time is: closing the workbooks or programs you don’t need anymore.

Not Enough Memory Excel For Mac 2011

  • 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.