Fix memory low error that locked up my document?

[Flying Fortress fan]

Does anyone know how to fix a Word document that has exceeded the memory of
my PC so that it is locked up? I can't delete any portion of the document to
get it back under the memory error. I can see the text but not any of the
embedded pictures, can't delete any pictures or any portion of the text.

Help! I don't want to lose a document that I've worked on for months...

 

[Terry Farrell]

What symptoms do you have that suggests it is too big? What version of Word?
What OS?

 

[Flying Fortress fan]

Guess that would help. Windows XP, Word 2003. When I open the document an
error message pops up saying that the memory is too low and pictures can't be
shown. The document itself opens without pictures showing, and all of the
buttons (such as cut, copy, paste, etc. are all greyed out. I can highlight
text and press backspace to remove it, but I am unable to save changes.
Effectively I am "locked out" of the document and can't reduce its size to
where I can work with it again. I thought if I could delete some of the text
I could start a second document to continue the project.

 

[Terry Farrell]

That sounds more like a document corruption. The out of memory error is just
a generic message when Word/Windows doesn't know what's wrong. Try opening
it using the Open and Repair function (it's under the little arrow attached
to the OPEN button in the File Open dialog).

Let's know if that works or you.

Terry