sorry not enough memory to complete this operation

[mboyd]

I'm on mac g4 450 mhz with 512 MB SDRAM running 10.3.5 and filemaker pro 7.0v3

My DB chokes when saving form letter as a pdf to be attached to an email.

How can i improve performance?

[Wim Decorte]

If that's the error you're getting, double-check to make sure there are no circular references in the scripts (meaning a script that calls itself, calls itself, calls itself, ...).

Other than that, OSX manages memory space dynamically. Close other apps if they are running, ...

[mboyd]

i added a stick of 512 ram and still not fixed. I think the problem is when saving to pdf..will post my script later on today if i can....it works fine on the laptop g4 667 but not on the g4 450....

[Fenton]

I've gotten that error before. It is not the memory really; it's that you're asking it to do something it can't do; something that is not an error per se, but just can't be completed.

Usually when a file path for the .pdf was not possible. It may be that the path you've set up for FileMaker to save the .pdf on one machine is not possible on another. Check the path. On OS X many "hard-coded" paths (which is what a FileMaker File Reference is, though you can have several of them in a hierarchy) contain the short user name.

Macintosh HD/Users/fej/Desktop/some_file.txt

is not going to work on your machine

Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/some_file.txt

likely will

Thre are ways to move the file afterwards, using AppleScript. But that first path where the .pdf is saved has to be written into FileMaker beforehand (unless you show a dialog), so it has to be available.

[P.S. Actually, maybe FileMaker would just save the file in its Applications folder, if it couldn't resolve the path (if you had privileges there). So maybe it's something else. All I remember is that I also got this error message when trying to do what you were doing, and that it was my fault, something not quite right, which I fixed.]

[mboyd]

I've gotten that error before. It is not the memory really; it's that you're asking it to do something it can't do; something that is not an error per se, but just can't be completed.

Usually when a file path for the .pdf was not possible. It may be that the path you've set up for FileMaker to save the .pdf on one machine is not possible on another. Check the path. On OS X many "hard-coded" paths (which is what a FileMaker File Reference is, though you can have several of them in a hierarchy) contain the short user name.

Macintosh HD/Users/fej/Desktop/some_file.txt

is not going to work on your machine

Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/some_file.txt

likely will

Thre are ways to move the file afterwards, using AppleScript. But that first path where the .pdf is saved has to be written into FileMaker beforehand (unless you show a dialog), so it has to be available.

[P.S. Actually, maybe FileMaker would just save the file in its Applications folder, if it couldn't resolve the path (if you had privileges there). So maybe it's something else. All I remember is that I also got this error message when trying to do what you were doing, and that it was my fault, something not quite right, which I fixed.]

OMG! brilliant suggestion! I bet that is it, I will noodle with that idea tonight when I am back on the mac, thank you so much for that.

Should that not work, i was also gonna try disabling default folder, which I installed just before my troubles started. I will let you know what happens. Thank you so much!!

[mboyd]

Fenton!!

That was the fix I needed! Thank you so much!!!! Big relief over here! Thank you so much for taking the time to post your theory, you made a difference in my life tonight!

Thank you again!

[Steve T.]

Tink! Point for Fenton.

--ST