Get Memory Error for Insert Row in Excel Sheet

Question

I'm experiencing an out of memory error when trying to insert a blank row in an Excel spreadsheet. The weird part is that in other sections of the spreadsheet, it will insert a row without the error popping up. The error only happens in a small section of the spreadsheet.

The Workbook is password protected for cell and row changes. The workbook was originally saved as an .xls file (back in 2010) then saved as an .xlsx file (in 2013). a co-worker was able to open the file and work in it without any errors until a week ago. The file was saved then the next day, when my co-worker opened the workbook, the errors started to happen when trying to insert a row.

So far, I have increased the virtual memory by 2 GB, then when that didn't fix the error, updated the Office 365 Business Pro from 2013 32-bit to 2016 64-bit. I still get the errors in only that section of the spreadsheet. The sheet is only one sheet, no formulas, links or tables, it's just an appendix used for referencing information so it's only text and numbers.

I'm a novice with Excel so, I'm thinking the file somehow was corrupted when last saved. I could use a backup file and start again however, I'd like to save the time it will take to reconstruct the data missing since the backup file was created. Has anyone experienced this or seen it before and might have a solution?

Answer 1

Hi Rick,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Office Community.

Please provide more information before we proceed.

1. Did you try to open Worksheet on different computer?
2. Where have saved the file? On OneDrive, local drive or shared drive?

Let's refer the following article and check if it helps.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2779852

Hope the above information helps. Try the suggestions in the article and let me know the result at your earliest convenience.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Here is your answers:

1. Did you try to open Worksheet on different computer?

yes, I opened it on a similar PC using Office 365 Business Pro 2013 64-bit. The same error occurs in the same area of the file.

2. Where have saved the file? On OneDrive, local drive or shared drive?

Original file is stored on a network share. The file is accessible to all but with read only privileges. Only a designated group has read/write privileges to the document. To see if the document worked from the local drive, I copied it to the users local drive however, the same issue persists.

I looked at the link you provided and reviewed it. Just to keep you informed here, the PC is running Windows 7 (New PC installed in September this year) It has all the latest updates. Office 365 was upgraded from 2013 to 2016. The user was on 32-bit but the 2016 upgrade gave it 64-bit. The workbook in question has no formulas, links or tables in the spreadsheets. It just houses text and numbers. No preview panes are enabled nor are there add-in. The antivirus is not a factor either.

I think the key is that the spreadsheet is password protected (locked and unlocked cells). I believe someone made a change in the page format that is causing this error because there is a page break after the cells in the area affected. Could a page break cause this?

Answer 3

I just wanted to thank all for your help.

I found a solution that will work in this instance. The user is going to start new and create a new file. I think that the file, converted in Office 2007 and saved then, opened and saved in Office 365 Pro got corrupted. The formatting on the pages was bad.

There is a second possibility and that is the file became corrupted on the network share.

Just a future thought, files created in Excel 97-2003 that you save in a later version of Office might have some formatting issues due to converting the old file to a newer version file. I do know that some of the older formatting doesn't convert (as stated in the warning when you do a save as).

Thanks again!