MS Word VBA "Out of Memory" when trying to create a macro

Question

I am trying to create a Macro in Word (Office 365).

After taking these steps:

• open blank document
• select: View - Macros - View Macros
• enter: Macro name: EditingLevel
• enter: Macros in: Normal.dotm (global template)
• select: Create 

I get this error message:

Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications

! Out of memory

Would appreciate any advice the community can give me. Many thanks.

ps I have just noticed that the error message does not come up when I select Macros in: Document 1

Answer 1

Hi Brooklyn2083,

We appreciate that you posted back and confirmed the information with us. We also appreciate that you spent your precious time doing those tests.

Since you mentioned you can create Macro under safe mode, this issue may be related to add-in in your Word. However, we also noticed that you cannot access Office applications after repairing Office. We're sorry the inconvenience caused by it.

Generally, we will not encounter such issue after repairing Office, it just help reset all settings of Office applications and repair some issue. For your situation about have no access to any Office programs, or my documents, email, may I know if you encounter any error message? If so, could you provide the screenshot of it? If you didn’t encounter any error message, may I know if you just cannot open those applications or you cannot find Office applications to open?

At the same time, could you provide the product information and version of your Office? You can go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Office and provide the screenshot of it.

Thank you for your understanding!

Best Regards,

Sukie

Answer 2

Thanks for your quick response Sukie & your help. Sorry for slightly panicked response yesterday.  I have re-downloaded Office 365 & it 'seems' to have put things back to normal. There was no error message, I just set the Repair function & chose the online option then nothing happened (no messages of any kind), just that Office disappeared from my desktop & program list.

So you think that an add-in in Word is causing the issue with creating Macros? 

In answer to your questions from your original reply:

1) If you are using Word for Windows, could you provide the Product Information and version of your Word? You can go to Word > File > Account and provide the screenshot of it.

I would rather not share a screenshot of my account details on an open forum but the Production Information reads:

Microsoft

Subscription Product

Microsoft 365

Belongs to: xxx@****

This product contains:

icons for Word, Excel, PPT, Outlook, Notes, Publisher, Access

2) Do all files have the same problem? You can go to new Word document and create Macro to check if the same problem will occur.

Yes, new Word documents and any other Word documents all have the same problem

3) May I know if the other Office applications have the same problem? Could you provide the screenshot of error message?

Excel does not seem to have the same issue

Error message screenshot:

Answer 3

A quick update, I just repeated the Office repair and the last message it sent me was something on the lines of... "hang tight we're sorting things out for you"... & then nothing further happened but Office has been uninstalled from my computer.

Answer 4

Hi Brooklyn2083,

Thank you for querying in this forum.

From your description, it seems that you are trying create a macro in Word for Windows, however, you encountered an error message. And the issue doesn’t occur when you selected Macro in Document 1 instead of Normal.dotm.

May I know if my understanding is right? If so, we have tested it on our side with the latest version of Word, we referred the steps you provided above to create macro under Normal.dotm and we cannot reproduce the same situation as yours.

Given this situation, we’d give you some suggestions below and hope that will help you:

1. We’d suggest you refer to this article: Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps to achieve the latest version of Office. Then you can update your Word to the latest version to check if the same problem will occur.
2. You can open your Word in safe mode to check if the same problem will occur. It will help in identifying an add-in or extension that may be causing a problem on startup. As steps shown below: Right-click the Start button (lower-left corner) in Windows, and click Run.> In the Run box, type one of the command: winword /safe
3. You can use Online Repair to fix the Office application. Repair an Office application.

If the same problem still persists after trying the suggestions above, to better understand your situation, could you provide the information below?

1. If you are using Word for Windows, could you provide the Product Information and version of your Word? You can go to Word > File > Account and provide the screenshot of it.
2. Do all files have the same problem? You can go to new Word document and create Macro to check if the same problem will occur.
3. May I know if the other Office applications have the same problem? Could you provide the screenshot of error message?

Best Regards,

Sukie