[Solved] Your system has run out of application memory

[pranamaya]

I updated from OpenOffice version 4.1.8 to 4.1.15 on mac OS 14.5 sonoma and once I started using a spreadsheet got an error Your system has run out of application memory. Only 2 apps were running, finder using 158.9 MB and openoffice using 95.33 GB. I had to close open office and lost changes when I restarted, and the same error reappeared. I uninstalled 4.1.15 and reinstalled 4.1.8. I didn't see this specific error when I searched the forum so reporting it here in case it serves the community. I'll keep it at 4.1.8 for now. Hardware is apple M1 Pro chip 2021 macbookpro 16 GB memory. Thank you.

Edit: Changed subject, was V4.1.15 on MacOS Sonoma uses 95.33GB application memory  Make your post understandable by others  -- MrProgrammer, forum moderator

[MrProgrammer]

I didn't see this specific error when I searched the forum so reporting it here in case it serves the community.

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Thank you for reporting the problem. This is not a developer forum, so no one here can fix this, but it is good to know about your problem.

Only 2 apps were running, finder using 158.9 MB and openoffice using 95.33 GB.

Many people have reported the problem when running applications other than OpenOffice so you may have a MacOS problem. An easy first step is to reboot your Mac.
Search at Apple.com for: Your system has run out of application memory
A potential cause is running out of room on the disk drive, because that is where MacOS stores data when other processes need to use memory. Although you may only know of two applications running, under the covers there are a thousand or more processes providing background services to MacOS, all of which need memory. Perhaps one of those processes was the culprit and OpenOffice was the victim. This is not an Apple forum and not a good place to get assistance if the problem is caused by a MacOS problem. Our focus in this forum is OpenOffice, not the operating system. To me it is unlikely to be a disk storage problem since 4.1.8 works for you, but I can image situations where OpenOffice changes use just enough more memory to trigger the problem. I cannot find any topics from people using 4.1.15 on MacOS who have reported the problem.
How to Fix "Your System Has Run Out of Application Memory" on a Mac

Your system has run out of application memory.

I don't use MacOS 14 or OpenOffice 4.1.15 and haven't seen that error. I have not experienced the problem with OpenOffice 4.1.7 on MacOS 13.6.3. Review your options for OpenOffice → Memory. Options are set with OpenOffice → Preferences on a Mac, Tools → Options on other platforms. Computers now have far more memory than when OpenOffice was developed. I allow OpenOffice to use more memory, increasing those values from the defaults, except for Undo where increasing it will cause OpenOffice to require more memory. The Undo feature can use large amounts of memory and it's unlikely that I would ever perform Undo 100 times in a row. You will specify values in megabytes, and your machine has 16000 megabytes of real memory and effectively unlimited virtual memory. Since I seldom work with large documents I use the following values, but you may need more with MacOS 14 or your documents:
• Remove after = 00:10:00
• Megabytes per object = 36
• Megabytes total = 120
• Objects = 32
• Undo = 100

It would be helpful to know what action you were performing when the error occurred so others who use 4.1.15 on MacOS 14 (if there are any; both are quite recent) can try to reproduce it. Is the file you're working with very large? Perhaps It's just too large for OpenOffice 4.1.15, though I don't know of any recent reports of that difficulty. You could attach it (remove confidential information then use Post Reply, not Quick Reply, and don't attach a picture instead of the document itself) to the forum if it's less than 128 kilobytes or provide a link to it if larger than that. But the file itself might not be helpful unless we know what action triggers the problem. If the problem is something external to OpenOffice like low disk space, no one will be able to reproduce it.

I'll keep it at 4.1.8 for now.

OpenOffice updates are few, far between, and have mostly minor changes. There is little risk in waiting a year, or even three, between upgrades. The most recent version is almost identical to OpenOffice 4.1.8. I've been running 4.1.7 since 2019 and have no plans to upgrade unless I run into a specific problem I am experiencing which a new version would fix. The best solution for you may be to stay with 4.1.8 until more is known about the problem. If you need an updated version you could try LibreOffice.

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