Excel cannot complete the task with available resources. Choose less data or close applications.

Anonymous
2010-05-05T14:25:22+00:00

Excel cannot complete the task with available resources. Choose less data or close applications. the size of the file is 640MB with over 250k records. I have 3.25GB of memory. It takes 5 mintues for the file to open.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2011-09-07T15:07:34+00:00

I have been experiencing this problem for months (i.e., Excel cannot complete the task with available resources. Choose less data or close applications).  I am running Windows 7 and Office 2010.  The problem can occur with very small spreadsheets so it has nothing to do with the complexity of the spreadsheets.  After reading the other posts, especially the one from Chuthor, I began to suspect incompatibilities between Excel and other MS software that I've downloaded.

Anyway, I just uninstalled Windows Live Essentials and Microsoft Outlook Social Connector for Live Messenger, which came with an update from Microsoft on 4/7/2011.  This appears to have solved the problem.

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Anonymous
2012-04-09T18:19:33+00:00

We eventually opened a ticket with Microsoft. Apparently this is on their radar, with no real fix just this work around. The users were experiencing this error daily, and by disabling preview pane in the 3 necessar locations completly fixed the issue. Here is the workaround MS sent me.

Windows 7 is new with Preview/Details panes. These Preview/Details panes contribute to the "Available resources" issues, as well as our "Locked for Editing by another user" issues. We consider turning them off in these 3 locations as a valid test:

Windows:

1. Right click on Start Ribbon.

2. Click Open Windows Explorer.

3. Click Organize | Layout  |

4. Uncheck Details Pane and Preview Pane.

Excel:

1. Click File | Open.

2. Click Organize | Layout  |

3. Uncheck Details Pane and Preview Pane.

Outlook:

1. Open a new e-mail.

2. In the "Include" group, click Attach File.

3. Click Organize | Layout  |

4. Uncheck Details Pane and Preview Pane.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-05-24T16:53:01+00:00

    For reference (Microsoft, are you listening):

    The above suggestion that the problem is

    "Found the problem and solution: It is a Security update for MS Update for Excel (KB2597166) that was installed on 5/9/2012.  After removing this update, Excel is back to working like a champ!"

    is correct. Removing this update does solve the problem. Relating to my own post

    "If I click in the upper left hand corner to select all, then try to sort, I get the error message. If I select only the columns that have data in them, no problem. Interestingly, when I click to "select all" but choose subtotal instead of sort, Excel automatically highlights only the columns with data in them and everything is fine."

    Once I removed the update, when I 'Select All' and then choose 'Sort,' Excel now correctly marks only the occupied cells for sorting.

    So the basic problem is that when you click 'Select All' and choose Sort (and likely other things), Excel is failing to identify empty cells and is trying to operate on the maximum spreadsheet size, which would indeed require some serious resources. The problem is not universal, however, since I could 'Select All' and then 'Subtotal' and Excel would correctly restrict the selection to occupied cells, even with the update installed.

    Maybe this will help Microsoft narrow the problem.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-05-30T19:57:50+00:00

    This also worked for me. If it happens again, then maybe I'll need to save each file as a 2003 Excel and just work with it in that format instead of xlsx. But for now, saving it as an xls, then resaving it as the xlsx. That worked. Thanks!

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-05-30T20:00:51+00:00

    This also worked for me the one time I tried it.

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