'Not Enough File Handles' Error During RTF Conversion

ID: Q84185

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for MS-DOS, versions 5.0, 5.5

SUMMARY

Microsoft Word version 5.5 for MS-DOS may display the following error during Rich Text Format (RTF) conversion:

Not enough file handles. Conversion stopped.

There are two possible causes for this error message:

The FILES= line in the CONFIG.SYS file is set to less than 20.

The environment variable TMP is set to an invalid directory.

MORE INFORMATION

While performing the conversion from or to RTF, the RTF_DOS converter creates a temporary file that acts as an intermediary between the source and destination formats. If there are not enough file handles free in the operating system, then the above error message is returned and the conversion is halted. To enable your system to handle this conversion, set the FILES= line in the CONFIG.SYS file to 20 or more. For example,


   FILES=20

The "Not enough file handles. Conversion stopped" error message also occurs when the environment variable TMP is set to an invalid directory, the directory in which the converter will attempt to place its temporary files during the conversion process. The environment variable can be either set at the command prompt or through the AUTOEXEC.BAT file by using the SET command.

This problem occurs whether the RTF_DOS converter is used directly or indirectly by choosing File Save As and selecting RTF in the Format box. If you use the Word 5.0 RTF_DOS converter, the above error message is not returned when a invalid path is specified in the TMP environment variable. Instead, the error message

Error creating temporary file, conversion shut down

is returned by the converter.

Additional query words: 5.50 5.00 RTF_DOS textconv

Keywords : kberrmsg kbconversion
Version : MS-DOS:5.0,5.5
Platform : MS-DOS
Issue type :