Opening anything (even Ctrl N) gives "Excel cannot complete this task with available resources. "
Excel cannot complete this task with available resources. Choose less data or close other applications.
For over a week, one of my coworkers has had trouble with Excel 2010 under windows 7 pro.
Several times a day Excel burps and she can no longer open new workbooks.
Every attempt to open anything gives the error message.
Even Ctrl N fails.
Just closing all workbooks has no affect. Exiting excel and restarting only solves the problem for a few hours.
Running in safe mode reduces the frequency a little.
Office repair does not help.
Multiple reboots do not help.
No addins are running (including excel, COM, XML etc)
Windows 7 is up to date.
There is nothing special about any of the workbooks being opened.
The coworker has had the same general workload for 3 months, but this problem only surfaced this week.
I welcome all suggestion, but we are 8 days away from a massively important deadline, so I wont try anything time consuming (like sfc /scannow or windows reset) until the deadline passes.
ASKER
We will try that. I may not get results until my coworker starts using her computer on Monday.
in the meantime, if any other experts have ideas they should feel free to post.
in the meantime, if any other experts have ideas they should feel free to post.
ASKER
Disabling Preview pane did not stop the problem.
try disabling auto calculate?
also, did you try the other steps in the aforementioned link?
also, did you try the other steps in the aforementioned link?
ASKER
Yes, we have tried all 7 methods although some are not applicable, For instance method 7 does not apply because the workbooks involved do not used defined names.
In two weeks, (after our massive deadline has passed) I will probably try completely uninstalling office then reinstalling. But, I still appreciate anybody else's suggestions for less extreme solutions.
In two weeks, (after our massive deadline has passed) I will probably try completely uninstalling office then reinstalling. But, I still appreciate anybody else's suggestions for less extreme solutions.
I know you stated that you don't wish to run "sfc /scannow", but this should only take at most an hour or so, but yes, can run longer. I would still suggest you run tonight. During "sleep hours", the computer is probably turned off. Why not leave on overnight and use the time constructively to your advantage.
ASKER
My past experiences with sfc /scannnow have not been ideal. Under windows 7 It would uninstall all windows updates, which would then need to be reinstalled.
I have yet to run sfc under w10, so maybe it is better. Nonetheless, this is a critical period and my coworker does not want to take any risk.
She prefers to simply reopen Excel once or twice a day. The message is annoying ,but It only takes a minute to workaround,
I have yet to run sfc under w10, so maybe it is better. Nonetheless, this is a critical period and my coworker does not want to take any risk.
She prefers to simply reopen Excel once or twice a day. The message is annoying ,but It only takes a minute to workaround,
I had a similar issue, I went and deleted files form this location and excel worked fine C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\
The above may not be permanent fix, but I also read that besides disabling the Preview Pane in Windows Explorer, also disable the Preview Pane in Outlook??
The above may not be permanent fix, but I also read that besides disabling the Preview Pane in Windows Explorer, also disable the Preview Pane in Outlook??
ASKER
i will try that and report back later
Wow - I just had the same thing happen to one of my computers. But the computer has only 4 gb ram and the excel file is a monster. AND she is running some system resource heavy application. Excel crashes when she is using both apps AND that particular Excel file at the same time.
I too have disabled the previews and am playing the waiting game. But i also ordered another 4gb stick of ram to put in the box.
I too have disabled the previews and am playing the waiting game. But i also ordered another 4gb stick of ram to put in the box.
ASKER
In my case all of the workbooks are small. And the computer has 8GB.
well, I'll let you know what the results are.
ASKER
I deleted everything in C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\
It did not help - my coworker still gets the message about twice a day. She has stopped complaining because it is only a minor annoyance (a 3 on scale of 1 to 10).
It did not help - my coworker still gets the message about twice a day. She has stopped complaining because it is only a minor annoyance (a 3 on scale of 1 to 10).
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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I'd have to kick this one over to Microsoft - a lot of their updates are making perfectly normal systems with office installed unstable.
ASKER
I used to open questions with microsoft several times a year. They would ask me to pay a fixed amount when the problem software was OEM Windows or Office. They were so much better than Dell and Lenovo, that it was worth paying $100 for difficult problems. About 50% of the time, they refunded the money when the problem was due to an MS bug or simply could not be resolved.
But, it eventually became too time consuming, so I now find the easiest/cheapest workaround and move on.
In this case our Windows 10 upgrade was free because we had previously installed and uninstalled the "get windows 10 free" promotion in 2016. The memory was also free because we salvaged it from another dead computer.
It does not help that I charge my clients $ for each hour I research a problem.
But, it eventually became too time consuming, so I now find the easiest/cheapest workaround and move on.
In this case our Windows 10 upgrade was free because we had previously installed and uninstalled the "get windows 10 free" promotion in 2016. The memory was also free because we salvaged it from another dead computer.
It does not help that I charge my clients $ for each hour I research a problem.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2655178/excel-cannot-complete-this-task-with-available-resources-error-excel-2
Method 5: Turn off the preview pane in Windows Explorer (Windows 7 only)
The preview pane is used to see the contents of most files in Windows Explorer. For example, if you click a picture, video, or text file, you can preview its contents without opening the file. By default, the preview pane is turned off in Windows 7. However, if it is turned on, it may cause a conflict with the Excel workbook you try to open leading to this error. We recommend that you turn off the preview pane and test opening your Excel workbook. To do this:
Click Start Start , and then click Computer.
Click Organize.
Select Layout, and then click to clear Preview pane.
Open the Excel workbook and test.
If the error continues to occur, go to the next method.