Out-of-memory error message with macro that edits document (279680)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Word 2002
This article was previously published under Q279680
For a Microsoft Word 97 version of this article, see 279675.
For a Microsoft Word 2000 version of this article, see 279677.

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word, you may receive an out-of-memory error message while you are running a macro that performs a large number of edits to a document.

CAUSE

This out-of-memory error message may indicate that the document contains too many edits, rather than an insufficient amount of memory.

WORKAROUND

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To prevent this error message from appearing, add a Save method to your macro so that the document is saved periodically.

When you use a macro to search for and replace text in a document, the Save method is often needed after a number of replacements have been made. The Save method clears the Word edit buffer, so that the macro can continue making edits.

The following example macro replaces all semicolons with tabs in a document. The If statement and count variable are used to save the document after every 30 replacements. 
Sub UpdateCount()

Dim count As Integer

count = 0

Options.AllowFastSave = False
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Execute findtext:=";", Forward:=True

While Selection.Find.Found = True
   count = count + 1
   Selection.TypeText Text:=vbTab

   If count = 30 Then
      ActiveDocument.Save
      count = 0
   End If

   Selection.Find.Execute
Wend

End Sub
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/11/2006
Keywords:kbmacroexample kbnofix kbprb KB279680
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