Virtual Memory Error when running Excel

[Justin]

Currently I have an engineer making a catalog of our product using
Excel for tolerances and other engineer stuff. Her current file is
approaching 36MB which is causing virtual memory errors on her PC while
she works. I have rebuilt a PC for her that is a 667MHz running Windows
2000 SP4 with Office 2000SR-1 and 512MB of RAM (750 to 1450 VM). I know
it is the Excel file causing the problem, but what can be done to
shrink the file or not make it take up so much virtual memory. I'm a
newbie to Excel and is just looking for any insight anyone might have.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Alex J]

Justin,
Make sure that the .wmf files are cleared out of the Temp directory (close
excel and other apps first). Excel uses memory to store those files which it
reads in from the temp directory, and its storage space is limited. Even
adding RAM won't help in this case.

The .wmf files are depictions of ActiveX controls (buttons, etc) which are
in the spreadsheet. If you crash the program, they are not cleaned out, and
excel reads them in the next time you start it up. A bunch of these files
will kill performance, trust me.

This is just one thing to try - although I know 36M is pretty big. I always
try to stay below 8M.

Alex J