Can't save MS Word files on my mac OS Sequioa 15.7.4. How to fix this?

Mr_LankyLanky88 wrote:

Hi all,

I have a macbook air 2020 version with an Intel chip.

I'm using OS Sequioa 15.7.4

Microsoft Word version 16.107.1

Since this week I'm having issues with saving Microsoft Word files on my mac.

When I'm trying to save a file I'm getting the following message (translated from Dutch):

"saving has failed because of insufficient memory or space on the hard disk"•

My hard disk is using 133 GB out of 500 GB. So that can't be the issue.

The only important storage value on macOS is the Free storage space value which unfortunately is only shown in Disk Utility. Ignore the very misleading "Available" storage value shown every where in macOS since it is not synonymous with Free. Even the "Used" storage space value can be misleading with recent versions of macOS.

FYI, you need a minimum of 20GB+ of Free storage space at all times or you will have issues. Ideally you should always have at least 20% Free.....better yet you should start out with at least 80GB-100GB of Free storage space prior to doing any work although more space may be needed for some types of storage intense workloads.

The error message "saving has failed because of insufficient memory or space on the hard disk" is odd and makes me wonder if perhaps your Word app is running out of Application Memory although macOS will usually pop-up an error message about it so you can Force Quit some apps. Unfortunately I have no idea how to tell how much Application Memory is being used by an app & how much is available for a particular app to use (it is not the same as the physical memory & virtual).

The best we can do is look at the Memory tab in Activity Monitor. If the Memory Pressure graph is red or yellow, then you are likely overloading the system. Even if the graph is green....if you see the Swap and/or Compressed values in the GBs range (above several GBs), then it also means you may be overloading the system. If this is the case, then you should close other apps....but if Word is reaching the maximum memory it can utilize even with everything else closed, then close some windows/documents in Word as well.

Reinstall MacOS (via cmnd R)

Was this a clean install by erasing the disk (aka "Volume Group" or whole physical SSD on an Intel Mac only) before reinstalling macOS? If not, then the reinstall was worthless since now macOS resides on a read-only signed & sealed system volume.

After a clean install of macOS as Word tested before migrating & restoring apps & data? If not, then the problem was likely brought back to the clean install through the restoration of apps & account/data.

• Saving the file in another folder

Were any of these locations being synced to the cloud? Maybe that is interfering.

Did you try saving to an external USB drive?

Is this your personal laptop?

Is it being managed in any manner by your school?

Is any anti-virus software, cleaning/optimizer apps, or third party security apps installed on this laptop? If so, then they may be causing the problem since they all interfere with the normal operation of macOS.

Mr_LankyLanky88 wrote:

Activity monitor and Utility Disk

Via activity monitor I see this:

Official Apple Support Community

And disk utility says:

Official Apple Support Community

I think that looks all good.

Yes, both look good.

FYI, I've circled the actual Free space value (347.67GB) in your screenshot here since it seems in Dutch both Free and "Available" utilize the same word. The value I'm circling in Disk Utility is the only place the Free space value appears and it is the most important storage value to watch. Notice the different value circled and the one in the table below.....the two values are related though...notice the "Purgeable" value (aka "wisbaar" in Dutch):

Available - Purgeable = Free
365.34  -  22.67  =  347.67

Restoration of apps and data•

I do think that problem was brought back due to the restoration of the apps and data.

because I'm experiencing exactly the same problem on a Mac tahoe 26.3.1 (after I've transferred all my old documents to this new computer via my external hard disk).

Either the issue is with the documents themselves, or some third party app that is installed.

It may be interesting to run the third party app EtreCheck and post the complete report here so we can examine it for possible clues:

How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an EtreCheck Report - Apple Community

On both Macs I'm investigating deeper what goes wrong and this is what I've noticed so far

I can open a new word file, typ in it and save that file. But the moment that I start pasting things from certain (a lot but not all) other files the problems start.

I wonder if you are actually linking items between the various documents instead of actually copying the actual content to the new document.

Or are these other documents have restrictions placed on them?

I have to copy/paste a lot from my publisher's word files. So only typing in word doesn't work for me.

At my school I'm the only one who is experiencing these kind of issues.

What do you mean typing doesn't work? You mean you cannot type anything in these Word documents which cannot be saved? Or you cannot type anything new in them after performing the Copy & Paste? Are these existing documents you are editing or new ones you have created?

Can you type in a brand new document you create yourself?

Have you tried using LibreOffice (free open source office suite like MS Office), or Apple's own apps such as Pages & Numbers to work with these problem files (If Apple's apps are not already installed, then you can download them from the App Store)?

Other questions•

nothing is synced to the cloud directly. I save the files directly onto my Mac. Only when I dropped certain files in my one drive it will be synced into the cloud.

• Yes, I've tried an external hard disk and that doesn't work the moment the problem arises.

• Yes, the Mac with Intel is my personal laptop. The Mac Tahoe I'm talking about is a Mac I've gotten today from work.

• My personal laptop is not being managed. My work laptop is being managed.

• I don't have anti-virus, cleaning or third party security apps installed

Thanks for these details.

Office document saving problems often result from a lapsed subscription or not being logged into your MS account.

Is your MS subscription active?

Have you tried signing out of your MS account, restarting your Mac and then signing back in?

The last version of MS 365 that Office Reset was qualified on was 16.79 on Sonoma. I would not trust that it would work properly on 16.107.