How To Fix Excel Not Enough Memory Error?

Memory issues are very common while dealing with the Microsoft Excel application. No matter what MS Excel version you are using memory errors is not bounded to any specific versions.

There are different types of Excel memory error occurs that prevent the user to execute a specific action.

In this blog, we will discuss those Excel not enough memory errors and try different solutions to get rid of them.

But before going to troubleshoot Excel out of memory error, it is recommended to find out the root cause of this error. As this will help you to prevent any type of Excel there isn’t enough memory to complete this action error from letting happened in the future again.

Why Does Excel Say I Don’t Have Enough Memory?

Following are the causes of Excel Not Enough Memory error :

1. Copying Formulas to Large Area 

It’s obvious to encounter Excel insufficient memory error if you are trying to copy the formula to large area of your worksheet. Excel 32 bit versions have a limit of 2 GB thus working with a large worksheet section leads to generate this error.

2. Formula Re-Calculations

Such a type of memory error also arises due to the recalculation of formulas mainly when you insert any columns/rows, copy-paste, or while performing any calculations.

Suppose, your excel workbook contains thousands of formulas on the sheet and you have just added one more column into it. In that case, Excel has to recalculate the entire formula of your worksheet for adjusting this newly added column.

All in all Excel out of resource error also depends on the complexity of your spreadsheet such as what formulas are involved in it or how your spreadsheet is built.

3. Other Problem Causing Elements Of The Spreadsheet

Even though your PC is having enough space in the local memory but you get there isn’t enough memory to complete this action excel error due to the presence of complex pivot tables, macros, complex charts in the workbook.

4. Other Heavy Applications Are Holding Up The Memory Space

 Another reason can be the execution of heavy-size applications on your PC that has already captured a huge amount of your PC’s memory space. Thus excel is not getting enough memory to work with.

Now, coming to the point, let’s start solving different memory errors one by one:

How To Fix There Isn’t Enough Memory To Complete This Action Excel Error?

Method 1# Fix Corrupt Excel File

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• Well, support for Excel entire versions.
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Method 2# Lack of PC Memory

It is seen that many cheaper PCs are having only 1 to 2 GB of memory space. Well, it’s enough for browsing the internet and many more tasks but not fits under these circumstances.

• If you are using Windows 7 or XP 32 bit version PC then you need to use the 4GB memory space.
• Users of Windows 7 or Windows 10 64 bit version need to buy extra memory.

After launching Microsoft Excel 2016, Microsoft is pressurizing the users to install 64-bit Office in order to skip the running out of memory and resource issues. In their previous version of Excel, Microsoft suggested 32-bit because some of the controls and add-ins were not yet present in the 64-bit compatible versions. If you are dealing with a lot of macros then it is recommended to test it first before migrating to 64-bit Excel.

Method 3# Separate Excel File Into Different Workbooks

Split the large size Excel file into separate workbooks as this will avoid the complexity of handling Excel large files.

By implementing this trick you can easily avoid the restriction of using 2GB memory space on Excel files.

Here are the steps which you need to follow:

• Select the sheet from your workbook sheets tab. Make a right-click over the sheet and then from the menu choose the “Move or Copy”

• By pressing the “Ctrl” key you can select several other non-adjacent sheets.

2) From the opened window of “Move or Copy“, choose the “(new book)” option which is present under the list of “To book”. Also, choose the option of “Create a copy” and then click the “OK” button.

3) Your chosen worksheets are now shifted to a fresh new workbook. Hit the “File” tab and choose the “Save” option to save new excel.

Method 4# Switch To Manual Calculation Method

To solve Excel out of memory error you need to stop the Excel application for recalculating the complete data after any changes.

To set manual calculation to your Excel workbook, you need to follow down these steps:

1) Go to the “File” tab from the Excel ribbon

2) From the list of appearing menus choose the “Options”.

3) This will open the Excel Options window; here you have to choose the “Formulas” tab from the left pane.

4) Hit the Manual option which is present under the section of the calculation option. Here you will see an option “Recalculate workbook before saving” if you keep this option enabled then each time before saving the workbook, complete data is recalculated.

Besides this, you can also approach the faster method of worksheet’s manual recalculation.

1) Follow this path: Formulas >Calculations Options> Manual

3) You can also press the “Calculate Sheet” options present in the Calculation section. Or just free the “Shift” and “F9” key together from your keyboard. This will perform a quick calculation over the data of your current worksheet.

Different Types Of Excel Memory Error Alongwith Their Fixes:

Error 1# Getting “Not Enough Memory” Error Messages While Trying To Copy Formulas Over Large Area In Excel

You will receive “Not Enough Memory” Error messages when you try to fill or copy formulas into a large area of a worksheet. This error message may also appear when you try to add formulas to a large worksheet. In both instances, you will receive the same error message saying that:

Not enough memory.

Not enough system resources to display completely.

Why This Error Is Triggering?

As we already discussed that each of the Microsoft Excel versions such as Microsoft Excel 2007, Excel 2010, and Excel 2013 32-bit is set to 2 GB of memory which is also called the internal heap space. Along with the memory, each of the instances is also set to the 32,760 source cells to do a smart fill operation. When you try to copy the large sections of a worksheet, then due to these limitations you will get the memory error.

How To Solve This Error?

In order to solve this issue, follow the given steps carefully:

Step 1: Try to fill only the part of the range that you want to fill.

Step 2: Choose only the end row or last two rows of the filled choice, and then paste beyond down the sheet.

Step 3: Now, you have to do again step 2 until you have filled the complete range that you want to fill.

In order to get rid of the memory limit, you should split your tasks into smaller workbooks, and try to open them in different instances of Microsoft Excel.

Error 2# Microsoft OFFICE 2016- There Isn’t Enough Memory To Complete This Action

This issue generally appears while trying to erase one single row in an Excel sheet. It throws an error message: there isn’t enough memory to complete this action Excel and after that, the application freezes up.

The cause behind this issue is not clear, but you can solve this issue with ease. Follow the below-given steps one by one to get rid of this problem:

• First of all, confirm that all of your system drivers are updated. Also, update the Microsoft Office. To do this go through the, File> Account> Office Update> Update Now.

• After it, you need to unmark ‘Disable hardware graphics acceleration’ by going through File>Option>Advanced>Display.

Now, check that the issue is gone or not.

Error 3# Microsoft Excel Cannot Open or Save Any More Documents Because there is Not Enough Available Memory or Disk Space

This error message is very irritating, as your computer or laptop have enough disk space in C or D drive and memory but Excel shows you don’t have enough memory available.

Generally, this error message appears on Excel files that contain complicated formulas, calculations, or external resources.

That’s why; the security settings in Microsoft Excel will stop opening these files and shows this irrelevant error message.

It is clear that this issue is related to the built-in security settings of Excel 2013 or 2016. Follow the given steps to get rid of this issue:

Step 1: First, you have to create a new Excel file and then navigate to the Options from File Menu.

Step 2: Click on the Trust Center Settings and under the Trust Center settings, uncheck all checkboxes in Protected.

Through this, you will help the Excel file to open without any security errors like “Microsoft Excel cannot open or save any more documents because there is not enough available memory or disk space”.

Once you press the OK and applied the settings then try to open the same Excel file which is showing the error.

Error 4# Unable To Open The Attachments In Excel Because Of The “There Isn’t Enough Memory Or Disk Space” Error

In order to get rid of this error and allow more memory, you have to exit from the workbooks or close the application that you don’t need. In order to free disk space, erase files that you don’t need.

If this issue is occurring with a particular file then it is sure that it is a file-specific issue.

• So, first, you have to find out the file format of the attached file. Try to save the file locally on your computer and then try to open the file.
• Right-click on the locally saved file and go to its Properties and unmark the Block option and then again try to open the file.

In case you are still unable to open the file in Microsoft Excel then you have to open the file in CSV file format. To do this, go to the save as option and save the file as a CSV format. After it, try to open the file and check for the issue.

Error 5# “Excel Has Ran Out Of Resources” Whilst Working On Microsoft Excel

This issue generally appears on 32 bit Excel, but sometimes also affects the 64 bit Excel.

To fix this issue you have to set your paging file size to automatic, follow the below-given steps:

• Navigate through the “Start-> Control Panel->Advanced System Settings.

• After that hit the Advanced->Performance> Settings->Advanced->Virtual Memory-> Change. Now, you have to mark the box for Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.

• At last, click on the OK buttons to close all Windows.

Conclusion

After applying the above-given solutions your problem of Excel not enough memory error will easily get resolved. All the given solutions are very simple to apply so you don’t have to call any professional or invest a single penny for it.

But, if you are encountering any other Excel memory error apart from the errors I have listed above. In that case, share your problems with us by commenting on this blog.