Message "Could not save because there is not enough memory (RAM)"

Do you have Virtual Memory turned On? If not, turn it On. How many applications do you have opened at one time?

Look at this link about not enough memory. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=51255

I have 26000K assigned (Preferred) to Outlook Express when I'm booted into OS 9.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Hi, Mike -

I have Outlook Express's Preferred memory allocation set to 45000K, and don't have any problems with attachments. Don't be afraid of increasing OE's Preferred memory allocation (nor IE's, either - I have that set to 65000K).

How large is the Messages file used by the account you're using in Outlook? You can examine that file here - (hard drive) >> Documents >> Microsoft User Data >> Identities >> (account folder, either the default "Main Identity" or one you've created) >> Messages.

It seems that the Messages file grows with each email received; but does not shrink when an email is deleted. Over time, especially when lots of attachments are involved, that file can get huge.

One way to help it not get too big is to -

• delete attachments after copying them to the desktop. In case you're not familiar with the easy way to copy an attachment to the desktop - select the email so it opens; click the small triangle next to the legend "Attachments" between the upper pane and the lower pane in Outlook's main window; drag the attachment from the list out onto the desktop. It will be extracted and copied to that location. Once that has been done you can delete the attachment from the email with which it arrived.

• after purging your emails of unneeded emails and attachments, compact the file. To do that, quit Outlook if it is running. Then hold down the Option key and start up Outlook. A splash screen will appear asking if you want to compact its database files - click yes. Follow the prompts.

Compacting OE's database can also fix some instances of a damaged database that can't be used.

***

If you could answer a few more questins, perhaps we can offer additional suggestions -

1) How much RAM do you have installed? That means the physical RAM, not counting Virtual Memory in use, if any.

2) How full is your hard drive - how big is it, how much free space is left unused?

3) When was the last time you rebuilt the desktop file?

"I have been receiving the same messages over and over with Virtual Memory On and Off."
What is your VM setting when on?





Try rebuilding your destop using Techtool Lite. This is more effective than the apple-option key combination because it deletes the desktop files and rebuilds them from scratch rather than rebuilding them incrementally.

Plus side: You avoid all the finger gymnatics.

Hi, Mike -

You can download TechTool Light for free from the link that Baby Boomer provided.

There is an alternate method which should allow you to rebuild the desktop without the connect-to-server request interceding.

To do that, restart - immediately hold down the Shift key until you get the "Extensions Off" message; then release Shift and hold down the Command and Option keys until you get the splash screen asking if you want to rebuild the desktop; click okay. Once that's done, restart to turn your extensions back on.

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You said that you do all your work on a network server. Is it possible that its hard drive, or the portion of it allocated for you to use, has got too full (less than 15% free space can cause problems)? Or possibly has other problems?

Have you tried saving files to your own hard drive rather than to the network server?

Hi, Mike -

Resetting PRAM won't hurt, but may do little to alleviate the issue. PRAM settings are mainly used during the boot process; with that in mind, resetting PRAM after making changes to the machine's hardware (new hard drive, new RAM, etc.) is a good thing to do - but PRAM settings rarely affect haw the machine behaves after the OS has fully loaded.

One aspect of resettiing PRAM can be a bit unsettling at first - since resetting PRAM returns all of its settings to default, some things may not appear to behave the way they should at first. This can include monitor settings, network settings, and (occasionally) date/time settings. Doing a couple of normal shutdowns and restarts after resetting PRAM usually gets most things back to normal.