Running Out of Memory

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 21, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Graham wrote to ask about a nagging problem he has with one particular Excel workbook. This workbook contains seven worksheets, one for each month, January through July. The worksheets contain quite a few formulas, and a graph is inserted in each worksheet. The first six graphs were created just fine, but whenever Graham tries to create the graph on the seventh sheet, he gets an "out of memory" error.

Chances are good that you aren't actually running out of memory, but are somehow running out of resources. The end result, however, is the same--Excel doesn't have what it needs to continue with the operation.

This situation seems to be a known problem with Excel 97, and Microsoft has addressed it in Knowledge Base article 168650:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/168650

If this doesn't solve the problem, it could be that the workbook itself is corrupted in some manner. The only way to determine if this is the cause is to recreate the workbook, from scratch (no copying and pasting), and see if the problem goes away.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2732) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Entering Calculations in a Form Field

One of the many uses for Word is to create forms that can be easily filled in by other people. This is made possible by ...

Discover More

Cell and Name References in COUNTIF

The second parameter of the COUNTIF function is used to specify the criteria to be used when determining what should be ...

Discover More

Saving Find and Replace Operations

Want to repeat the same Find and Replace operation over and over again? Here are a couple of ways you can improve your ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Excel Won't Display Different Windows in the Taskbar

If you want individual Taskbar buttons for each open Excel workbook but cannot seem to get those buttons, the culprit ...

Discover More

Arranging Workbook Windows

If you find yourself working with a number of different workbooks at the same time, you may want to arrange your desktop ...

Discover More

Backing Up Your Customized Toolbars

After customizing your Excel toolbars, it is a good idea to make a backup of the file that contains the information. ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 8 - 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.