Microsoft Office insufficient memory when there is sufficient memory

quantxxx wrote:

'Word has insufficient memory. Do you want to save Word Work File ***.tmp as'

On both Macbook Pro 2023 and Mac Studio 2023, with PLENTY of memory.

... error message when I try to save or close a document (that I have been saving regularly throughout the few hours I have had that document open).

files unexpectedly crashed and I lost days of work despite files had been saved a few moments before.

Rereading your original post more carefully, I see reference to having documents open for "hours" with saving every few minutes ... and then losing "days of work" ... so it sounds like you may be working with multiple files open for hours or even days with auto-saving every few minutes.

I can offer a maybe "workaround" (not a true solution, but it might make your life a bit easier). It turns out that Word is quite inefficient with those autosaves, it creates new tmp files with each one, and after a while there can be dozens or even hundreds of such files open. I would think any Windows or Mac OS should handle this but depending on the complexity of the documents, it can become problematic with scores of files open for read/write.

What may work better for you is to reduce the frequency of autosaves ... maybe to 15 or 20 minutes. And to not leave files open for many hours or days, especially multiple files -- do a "save as" every so often, quit Word, and then reopen fresh. You MIGHT see this issue much less often or never. I suspect Word may not release memory properly when scores of files are open for hours or days. (I can't prove it, I am surmising.)

Doesn't cure the Microsoft bug (I think MacOS isn't helping here either but who can tell) but might mean you stop losing your work. Maybe worth a try.

quantxxx wrote:

No, it's not MacOS related. It's pure Microsoft, and as said a very old bug coming back with a vengeance (I've been there with MSoft for years, then it disappeared since roughly 2015, and now it's back.

I already posted on Microsoft forum and replies are discouraging, ranging from reinstall (no use) to avoid saving to ICloud and instead save locally on Mac (which would be a complete mess). MSoft as usual…

I think the reason the Microsoft forum is not helpful is that the issue is not that common. Yes, it was maybe seen years ago and you can find posts online. But my employer has 5000 employees, about half on Macs and about half on Windows, all using Office 365 (with the installers from Microsoft), and I have never seen this issue surface there, for either Macs nor Windows.

But you are seeing it on two Macs, so you are two for two. I am surmising there is something in common with how the two Macs you use are configured or set up, since you probably did that yourself. Although you want to continue saving your Microsoft files to the cloud, I suggest you try saving only to your Mac (local storage) for a few days or so to see if the issue goes away. If it does, then that's an important clue. The Microsoft people actually suggest saving locally instead of to their (or other) cloud storage as a troubleshooting step to see if that resolves the issue. If it does, then you have narrowed the root cause to something relating to how the cloud storage is working or set up.

quantxxx wrote:

No avail. The b***y thing did it again. Autosave set to 20 minutes.

Again lost all work from last hours.

Pure Microsoft!!!

Horrible.

Mystery is: why is this getting you but very few other Mac users?

Since the Microsoft people had suggested saving files locally to see if that helped (versus in Microsoft's cloud), that could mean (a long shot) that some network configuration that you have could be a factor here. Have you tried that (for troubleshooting only)?

Any VPN, anti-virus, network security or monitors etc. could interfere with the cloud interface. Any of those in play here?

Several possible approaches:

• Boot into Safe Mode to clear caches and do some housekeeping. This might get rid of something being "remembered" that is interfering. You could also run in Safe Mode (it will feel clunky) for a while to see if it "cures" this, if it does that would point suspicion towards something installed as most third party software and extensions are disabled in Safe Mode. Running in Safe Mode long enough might not be practical for you, however.
• Create a new user, does it experience the same issue.
• Run Etrecheck and post report here. Many people will review it and might find something to help you get rid of this annoyance.
• Manually Save or Save As in Word every x minutes, I think that will protect you up to the last such save?

these forums are user helping other users like yourself, it's sort of going

to a physical apple store and asking other customers their advice

This is a user helping users with tech questions forum, we are not apple

and apple do not read your posts here

I never used ms office on macOS or ios devices only on windows, but at the end of the day it's microsoft who develop their apps and if apple make changes, then it's up to microsoft to update their apps to comply

you can try How to contact an app developer - Apple Support

or otherwise reach out to them https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/mac/microsoft-365-for-mac

or reach out to apple to see if they have more pull with microsoft

Get Support (apple.com)

And or

Contact - Official Apple Support

And or

Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

Or

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Same problem here. Happens at least once a day, have to force quit Word due to 40GB plus memory usage. I have all MS updates installed, and am running MacOS 26.3. Saving to MS OneDrive, but going to try and work locally, see if that helps.

think by default newer ms office apps like to save by default to ms's onedrive in the cloud that could be the issue

or where it otherwise default wish to attempt to save, if it was me then I would look at if it is talking of memory or storage memory

This does not appear to be an issue with macOS. It's also not an issue I have experienced, and I use Word a lot. I'm running the current version (16.105.3) on macOS 26.2.

You might try your question on the Microsoft Forums:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/tags/831/m365-office  

What version of office do you have installed? Standalone MS Office or MS 365? If 365 did you download the installer from MS or install the App Store versions?

I've had no issues at all. MS365 using the App Store versions.

Current version 16.105.3 (26020123)