Comments on: Word X: Too many files open

By: Pierre Igot

Pierre Igot — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:45:37 +0000

Thanks. If I were a Microsoft engineer, I would feel deeply embarrassed 1) that this bug still exists in Word 2004; 2) that MS not only has not fixed the bug, but has not even bothered to rephrase the alert message so as not to mislead the user into thinking that his disk is actually full or that he actually has “too many files open;” 3) that the workarounds are so user-hostile and that MS is not even able to build them into a Word 2004 application update, so that the user doesn’t have to install a “.dot” template manually.

That said, I haven’t experienced the bug myself in ages. But obviously other people still are experiencing it… It might also have to do with the fact that I try to use Apple’s Pages as often as I can.

By: GypsyHeart

GypsyHeart — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 04:43:08 +0000

Since people (such as me!) are still googling this, here’s a page that has the workarounds to use when the cause is NOT to do with having a network-based home directory:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/DiskFullError.html

By: Pierre Igot

Pierre Igot — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:50:01 +0000

Good news indeed (for those still affected by this problem)! I haven’t seen the error myself in recent times, but I know that some people are still experiencing it.

I guess this will give more ammunition to those at Microsoft who tend to blame all Mac-specific problems on Apple…

Thanks for the update.

By: Andrew Aitken

Andrew Aitken — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:10:40 +0000

Pierre, I know this is an ancient bug, but I would like to point you to the 10.4.6 Update Page – Check under “Third-party applications” – and you will see something nice:

Addresses an issue for Microsoft Word 2004 in which Word would display a “Word cannot complete the operation because too many files are open” alert message when autosaving a document to a network-based home directory.

This bug affected one of my clients, and was actually how I came across your site in the first place – your troubleshooting helped me give my client a workaround. I think it is only proper to pass on the information that Apple seemingly have resolved this bug.

By: Mitch Gregory

Mitch Gregory — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I only started having this same problem with Word 98 when I upgraded to OS-X v.10.2.8.

By: Pierre Igot

Pierre Igot — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Maybe it’s just a coincidence, maybe there is a particular reason for this. (I don’t suspect either Microsoft or Apple makes much effort to ensure that Word 98 continues to run smoothly in Mac OS X — they want you to upgrade.)

Regardless, the point is that the issue cannot be eliminated as far as I can tell, and that you need to learn about how to get out of the problem once you’re stuck with it. Follow the links in this blog item :).

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I have this same problem! Any fix? Have office 2001 on OS X and a school full of kids, what a nightmare! Someone please post a fix if you know of one.

Chris

By: Pierre Igot

Pierre Igot — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Sorry, no fix in sight from Microsoft. I suspect that the software is so badly designed that they can’t fix it without rewriting enormous amounts of code.

Use the workarounds I mentioned above. (Follow the links as well.)

By: Pierre Igot

Pierre Igot — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I am afraid the problem with files located on a server is known as well, and I don't think there are any solutions that would satisfy you. Microsoft would probably recommend saving local copies and transferring back. If you search the MS KB at http://support.microsoft.com/ you'll find all kinds of articles on being unable to save files on servers…

By: J

Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I have the same problem with 100% regularity when the files in question are located on a linux file server. This doesn’t happen with Excel files, just Word files. None of the PCs on the school network I maintain have this problem, nor do the pre-OSX Macs. But EVERY Word file on the file server won’t let you save modifications when you’re using Word X. If that sheds any light on a possible cause, let me know, because I’m getting hell from my clients who are (justifiably) feeling inconvenienced. Also, telling them that they should just keep saving different versions of the file and then deleting the old ones, isn’t going to fly :)

By: J again

J again — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I posted earlier today, and after some more research found a partial solution here (www.mvps.org).

In short:

1. Go to Word Menu > Preferences > Save.
2. In the ‘save’ preferences, check the “Always create backup copy” box.
3. Make sure that “Allow fast saves” is unchecked.

This is a workaround that apparently allows at least 60 saves before the error returns. Anyway, initial tests using my home linux file server and an OSX mac client seem quite promising. Hope this helps!

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Thank you for all your posts. I haven’t had a chance to try the workaround yet but i will. If anything else comes up let me know!

By: Pierre Igot

Pierre Igot — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Back in the OS 8 days, Apple could be blamed for having imposed a limit on the maximum number of “open files” in the system at any given time. In later versions of OS 9, however, this limit was bumped from a few hundred (easily reached) to several thousand. When this happened, and the bug in Word didn’t go away, the bug was revealed for what it really was: a Microsoft bug. Each time you hit “Save” in Word, Word creates at least one invisible temporary file, and does not close it until you actually close the document itself in Word. And after a limit of about 60 files are open in Word, the “Disk is full / Too many files open” bug surfaces. Turning off certain things in Word or in Mac OS might help reduce the frequency of its occurrence, but it will still happen, because it’s a fundamental flaw in the Word architecture.

The bug exists in all versions of Word for the Mac since 1998. Will it be fixed in Word 2004? I am not holding my breath.

By: jay owen

jay owen — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

It seems that this bug – esp word 98 running in a classic environment is just hitting an apple file sharing limitation, or miscalculation by MS word. I have the same problem. I run an OS X maxhine using personal file sharing enabled for our filesharing needs and a mix of OS 9 and OS X 10.2.8 clients. This bug seems to happen only on OS X environs running any version of MS Word. We had the same problem with 10.1, 10.2.x. So it seems to be just word and another one of its famous annoying bugs. I can say though, that all the machines i have making backup copys and fast saves off seem not to have this problem. My OS 9 machines do not have this bug.

By: Dan Kato

Dan Kato — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

In Panther, Word for OSX (latest .5 upgrade from the M$ site) does the exact same thing, and it seems to have nothing to do with the number of open files. It produces “too many files open” even if there’s just one file open, without backup file on.
The solution proposed is no good either: this damned program creates tons of temporary files (Word Work File L_xxx) and eventually does exactly the same thing, namely, crash!

While I am writing this, Word is hung in the background after an hour’s work, and I cannot even get rid of it by “Force Quit” … I will have to reboot! What a piece of crap! Finally you have a stable OS, and now Microsoft sneaks in the familiar old Windows problems! I remember working on unstable, homemade DOS wordprocessors decades ago, but Word for OSX is worse!