Word 6 Memory Problems

Many long-time Word users know that Word 6 is a memory hog. To be more precise, it seems to eat memory. This is very aggravating, and it is even more aggravating that Microsoft doesn't seem to acknowledge the problem. It may be that they don't think they have to since Word 6 is now several versions old. However, there are similar memory problems in later versions of Word, although they are not quite as pronounced.

The memory problem is most pronounced when working with large documents with many embedded graphics. In order to minimize the effects of the problem (you can't eliminate them entirely), you can try the following:

1. Don't embed graphics if you can avoid it; link them instead. This minimizes the size of the Word file, and therefore reduces the amount of memory required by Word to manipulate the document.
2. Turn on Picture Placeholders. This will display an outline box of your graphics instead of the graphic itself. Choose Options from the Tools menu, click on the View tab, and make sure the Picture Placeholders check box is selected.
3. Work in Normal view. This eliminates Word's need to repaginate your document every time you make a change.
4. Save your work often--very often. Saving frees up some memory, and saving often can help when you inevitably get the dreaded "Out of Memory" error.

Word 6 also squanders memory when you edit graphics from within your document. What happens is when you open a graphic by double clicking, Word grabs memory which it doesn't release when you come out of the graphic. After opening two or three graphics your resources are down to virtually nothing. The memory is not even released when you close the file; you can usually get it back by only exiting Word completely.

There is a workaround which can help you save some resources in this scenario. Instead of double clicking to edit a graphic, single click on the graphic, then choose Object (such as Chart Object or Picture Object) from the Edit menu. Then choose Open. This allows you to edit the graphic. When you are done, choose Exit and Return from the File menu of the editing program. Editing the graphic this way means you don't tie up memory.