thanks for the responses. I am using 2007 and saving it in 97 to 2003 excel format. maybe thats the problem. I just took it to a machine with 2003 and did the same copying proceedure and no problem.

memory seems ok tho i agree its not the most efficient way to do what i'm doing.

I'm going to work on the 2003 computer now instead which should sort it. but still wondering why it came up with that warning in 2007.

thanks for your help