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"The save failed due to out of memory or disk space" error for Word 365 on Mac

BMC 0 Reputation points
2026-05-26T20:31:54.25+00:00

I receive the error message in the title, including for a blank document I attempted to save, and have attempted a number of possible solutions found on the internet, none of which worked:

  1. Quit/restart my computer
  2. Emptied all caches, including temporary files in the autorecovery file for Word.
  3. Unistalled/installed the 365 suite.

I only receive this message for Word and not Excel or PPT files. This is for version 16.109.1, which I believe is the most up-to-date version. I have over 100 GB of disk space still left on my hard drive, so that too is not a problem.

Any other potential resolutions I am missing?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | MacOS
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  1. Jay Tr 12,290 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-26T21:49:12.6866667+00:00

    Hi @BMC, 

    I hope you are doing well. 

    Thank you for reaching out and for sharing the steps you have already taken to troubleshoot the issue. 

    The “insufficient memory or disk space” error does not always reflect actual storage or RAM limitations. In some cases, it can be triggered by application specific issues or problematic document content such as embedded objects or corrupted elements. 

    To resolve the issue, please follow these steps: 

    1. Open Word file in Pages 
    • In Pages, go to File > Open, select the file, then click Open. 
    • Save the document from Pages to confirm whether the file can be written successfully. 
    • Test creating and saving a new document directly in Pages. 
    1. Contact Microsoft Support 

    If the issue continues to occur even after reinstalling Office and clearing caches, it appears to be isolated to Word itself. The best next step would be to have your IT administrator open a support ticket with Microsoft via the admin center. A technical support engineer can then initiate a remote session, review backend settings, and run diagnostics. If needed, they can escalate the case to specialized engineering teams who are well-equipped to perform advanced troubleshooting and provide targeted solutions. 

    In case you do not know who is your IT admin, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support  

    As moderators, our primary goal is to provide helpful guidance and support through general troubleshooting steps. While we don’t have access to internal systems or administrative tools required to resolve account-specific or backend issues, we truly appreciate your understanding of these limitations. We genuinely hope the information we share helps point you in the right direction, and we're always here to assist as much as we can within our scope.  

    For guidance on how to request support in the admin center, please refer to: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin.      

    I hope this information is helpful. Please follow the steps above and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can continue working together to resolve the issue.  

    Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out so I can continue to support you. If you found the response useful, please consider marking it as accepted, as this may help other community members who are looking for similar guidance.  

    I look forward to continuing the conversation.

    If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.     

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  2. AI answer

    2026-05-26T20:32:07.02+00:00

    The behavior indicates a Word‑specific save problem on Mac rather than real disk or memory exhaustion. On Mac, these errors are commonly caused by issues with temporary work files, the local Office installation, or macOS permissions.

    Try the following, in order:

    1. Update Office for Mac fully
      Even if the version appears current, install any available updates, as recent builds include fixes for save and disk‑error issues.
      1. Open any Office app (for example, Word).
      2. On the Help menu, select Check for Updates.
      3. Under How would you like to check for software updates?, select Automatically.
      4. Choose the desired frequency, then select Check for Updates and install anything offered.
      This is the first recommended step when Word for Mac shows disk‑related save errors.
    2. Repair disk permissions and file system
      Problems with macOS permissions or the disk can cause Word’s temporary save/replace process to fail and trigger “disk full/out of memory” style errors.
      1. In Finder, on the Go menu, select Utilities.
      2. Open Disk Utility.
      3. Select the primary hard disk.
      4. Go to the First Aid tab.
      5. Run First Aid / Repair Disk (and Repair Disk Permissions if available on the macOS version).
      This addresses environmental breaks in the temp‑file replacement process that can generate serious disk or save errors.
    3. Test with a new macOS user profile
      A corrupt user profile can cause Word‑only issues, including save failures.
      1. Create a new user account on the Mac.
      2. Sign in to that account.
      3. Start Word, sign in to Microsoft 365 if prompted, and try saving a new blank document.
      If saving works in the new profile, the problem is isolated to the original macOS user account (preferences, containers, or permissions) rather than Word itself.
    4. Clean reinstall Office for Mac if the issue persists
      If updating and repairing the disk do not help, remove Office completely and reinstall so that Word’s application files and containers are rebuilt cleanly. High‑level steps:
      1. Quit all Office apps.
      2. In Applications, move all Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote) to Trash.
      3. In ~/Library/Containers/, delete the Office app containers such as:
        • com.microsoft.Word
        • com.microsoft.Excel
        • com.microsoft.Powerpoint
        • com.microsoft.Outlook
        • com.microsoft.OneNote
      4. In ~/Library/Group Containers/, move to Trash the Office groups, for example:
        • UBF8T346G9.ms
        • UBF8T346G9.Office
      5. Empty Trash.
      6. Reinstall Office for Mac from the Microsoft account portal and sign in again.
      This removes potentially corrupted Word/Office data and preferences that can interfere with saving.
    5. If still failing, contact Microsoft Support
      If Word continues to show the same error even in a new macOS profile and after a clean reinstall, collect details (exact version, macOS version, whether the issue occurs on local vs. cloud locations) and contact Microsoft Support for deeper investigation.

    References:

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