WD6X: "Not Enough Memory" During Paste Special in RTF in MacWord (119030)

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Paste Special command on the Edit menu to paste a large amount of information from the Clipboard in Rich Text Format (RTF), you may receive the following error message in Word for the Macintosh:

There is not enough memory to complete the operation.

CAUSE

Word displays this error message if you quit Word, save the Clipboard contents, restart Word, and then use the Paste Special command on the Edit menu to paste the text in Formatted Text (RTF) format. After you quit and restart Word, the application no longer allocates sufficient memory to load the Clipboard contents in RTF format.

Note: After you restart Word, this problem does not occur if you select a file format other than Formatted Text (RTF) in the Paste Special dialog box. Furthermore, it does not occur if you paste the information into a document in RTF format BEFORE you quit Word.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Word version 6.0 for the Macintosh. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

Method 1

Paste the contents of the Clipboard in RTF file format before you quit Word to avoid the memory-allocation failure.

Method 2

Follow these steps to start Word in at least 4000 kilobytes (KB) of memory:

Quit Word and choose Yes when Word prompts you to save the Clipboard contents.
In the Finder, select the Microsoft Word application program file.
From the File menu, choose Get Info.
Under Memory Requirements, change the Preferred Size to 3000K (under Macintosh System 7.0, change the Current Size setting under Memory).
Close the Get Info Window.
Start Word.
From the Edit menu, choose Paste Special.
Select Formatted Text (RTF) and then click OK.