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Error in Access 2016: "There isn't enough free memory to update the display. Close unneeded programs and try again."

Question

Saturday, December 10, 2016 9:29 AM | 1 vote

EVERY time I am working with a query in Access 2016 over a Remote Desktop connection, when I try to change from Design View to Datasheet view I get the message "There isn't enough free memory to update the display. Close unneeded programs and try again." The problem persists even when I return to the remote computer and the only way to 'reset' Access is to exit and restart it. This happens with any accdb or (old) mdb files I try to open. Interestingly, it seems not to happen when switching from SQL to Datasheet View and back again, only when Design View is involved.

It's not more than a year since I updated from Access 2003 to Access 2013 and soon after to Access 2016. I never had this problem with Access 2003 or earlier versions but I notice that it has been a problem since about 2007 or 2008 and that although many people have experienced this problem, no effective solution has been found. There are plenty of useless suggestions like "try compact and repair" that do not work but may waste more of your time.

Has anyone come upon an explanation for this problem and perhaps found a solution? I have wasted too many hours trying to find a solution that works and if indeed no solution has been found, it is ridiculous that such persistent bugs have not yet been fixed.

My operating system is Win10 on both client and server computer and I have a reasonably fast internet connection when using remote desktop.

Thank you.

All replies (2)

Monday, December 12, 2016 9:03 AM

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/98f676a2-f2f7-4496-9ce1-e7b091e04875/ms-access-2013-there-isnt-enough-free-memory-to-update-the-display?forum=officeitproprevious

Please check this link.

Monday, July 22, 2019 3:54 AM

Had the same issue.. what finally helped is setting *Microsoft Print to PDF* Printer as the default printer. This is on Windows 10. Possibly the error is linked to printer set to a network printers that is not available or other printer driver issues with the default printer.

Steps to solve (or at least reduce occurance of) the issue on Windows 10:

  1. Close Access if open
  2. Go to Start>Settings>Devices>Printers and Scanners
  3. Scroll down to find check box Let Windows manage my default printer, ensure it is checked.
  4. Scroll up and in the list of printers, click "Microsoft Print to PDF".
  5. Click Manage to open the printer page.
  6. In the printer page, Click Set as default.
  7. Close Settings window.

Start using Access as usual, the error should not appear now. Please also avoid keeping the "properties" popup windows open in design views.

Usually, you can't recover from this issue without restarting Access. However, there is a way you can try to avoid restarting Access (e.g. you are working on a complex query and have several other open that you do not want to save). Try changing the display resolution, for example switch from 1920x1080 to 1600x900 (you can change it back later). After that switch back to Access, you may receive the error a few times and then should disappear. 

Steps to change resolution on Windows 10:

  1. On Desktop, right click and click Display Settings.
  2. In the Setting window, in Resolution drop down, select a different resolution preferably lower than the current resolution.
  3. Window will change resolution and you should see a prompt asking if you want to keep changes or revert to original resolution, click Keep changes. If the screen becomes blank or distorted, wait for 15 seconds and Windows will revert to previous resolution. Try a different resolution if this happens.
  4. To revert to original resolution follow steps 1 to 3, in step 2 choose the original resolution.

I believe this error is some way related to the way Access interacts with printer and screen drivers.

Hope this helps.

Technical Artist