Excel 2002 causes “Insufficient system resources to display†messa

[Joe-32780]

Date: Tuesday June 10, 2008

Subject: Excel 2002 causes message, “Insufficient system resources to
display†.


I own a genuine original of Microsoft Office XP Professional – Version 2002.

My computer is about 3 years old and is running Windows XP, with 1.5 GB of
physical RAM, and a 160 GB hard drive ( 127 GB free space ).

The Excel 2002 program is giving me lots of trouble lately. Whenever I work
on a large excel file, ( like over 8 or 10 MB ), and I try to do a simple
sort or try to copy a small amount of data, the program starts locking up and
gives me crazy displays on the screen.

My Task Manager Performance tab spikes to 100%, and stays there for a long
time. Very often I will get the message, “Insufficient system resources to
display. Select less dataâ€. This one particular file is on one tab, with
some simple formulas, and data in columns A thur P, and rows 1 thru 260.

I have other Excel 2002 files that contain over 15 Tabs, ( one for each
month ) with data in columns A thur Z, and rows 1 thru 150, ON EACH TAB, and
the files are under 3 MB, and it works fine.

It seems to me that the file that is over 10 MB, should not be as large as
it is. Perhaps there is something wrong with the file itself.

Questions:

Why can’t Excel 2002 properly handle files that are over 10 MB?

What is the largest file that Excel 2002 can handle properly?

Is there something wrong with my particular copy of my Excel 2002 program?
The Excel 2002 is the only program that gives me trouble.

Would re-installing my Excel 2002 program, possibly correct any problems,
and allow Excel 2002 to once again handle large files?

Is there any way to increase the size of the system resources memory area?

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.


From: Joe-32780

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Joe,

You landed in an Excel for Macintosh group. So, you'll probably have better
luck in a Windows forum. However, for your specific questions, I have some
answers:

Why can¹t Excel 2002 properly handle files that are over 10 MB?

I think it can. Are there many charts? Pivot tables?

What is the largest file that Excel 2002 can handle properly?

I don't think there is a spec for this. All will say it depends on memory
and/or system resources.

Is there something wrong with my particular copy of my Excel 2002 program?
The Excel 2002 is the only program that gives me trouble.

Probably not.

Would re-installing my Excel 2002 program, possibly correct any problems,
and allow Excel 2002 to once again handle large files?

I doubt it. You best bet is to minimize the use of font sizes and styles. If
you have many charts, turn off font scaling for each one.

Is there any way to increase the size of the system resources memory area?

No. This is a "feature" of the Windows operating system.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

If this file seems too large compared to other files, check to see where
Excel "thinks" the end of each work sheet is. For each sheet in the
workbook, press control-End. If the selected cell is further to the right
and further down than where you "think" the end should be, DELETE all
columns to the right and Rows below the actual end. Highlight the row
headers and press delete, likewise for the columns. Do this for each sheet
in the workbook. Then SAVE and CLOSE the workbook. Now check its size. It
may very well be a whole lot smaller and work better.