ACC1x: Transaction Limit Can Cause "Out of Memory" Error

ID: Q90130

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to make a change to a database, you receive one of the following error messages, even if you have ample system resources and disk space:

Insufficient Disk Space or Memory 

   -or-
You are out of disk space or have exceeded maximum transaction size


CAUSE

Microsoft Access has a 4 MB transaction limit. All table design changes are embedded within a transaction to ensure database integrity. As a result, you will get the "Out of memory" error if you attempt to update the contents of a table this large or larger.


RESOLUTION

If, for example, a table contains a field of type Double that you want to change to Integer there are two ways to do this:

Method 1


  1. Select and copy the desired table to Clipboard.


  2. From the Edit menu, choose Paste (paste only the table structure to a new table name).


  3. Change the data type of the desired column in this new table.


  4. From the Edit menu, choose Paste (paste append the data to this new table).


Method 2


  1. Add a new column to the table with the data type you want.


  2. Execute an update query, where the new column is assigned the value of the column you want to change.


  3. Delete the old column from the table.


NOTE: You may get similar "out of memory" alerts when using both of these methods, but the message boxes should give you the option of continuing or canceling.


STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Access versions 1.0 and 1.1. This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Access version 2.0. 


Keywords          : kberrmsg kbusage TblModfy 
Version           : 1.0 1.1
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: March 11, 1999