'there was a problem sending the command to the program' error message in windows 7 using word 2007

Hello

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To assist you better, please let us know the details mentioned below:

a)    Does the same issue persist with any other application?

I would suggest you to Change File Type Association Directly from the File Properties

1. Right click on a file with the type or extension that wants to change its associated application program.

2. Select Properties on right click context menu.

3. In the General tab, click on Change button.

4. An Open With window will appear. Choose a program to open the kind of file from the list of programs available.   

By default, Recommended Programs is automatically expanded. However, there is more detected programs in the    section of Other Programs, which can be expanded to select by clicking on Down Arrow at the end of the separator    line.

 If the program that want to used as the default program does not found, click Browse to select an executable     file manually.

5. Click OK button.

I would suggest you to visit the below mentioned link, where the customer had similar issue.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistamedia/thread/18eb8dca-a900-48a5-8468-8b18f364e3a7

If you do not have issues with any other application, then I would suggest you to post the issue in Office discussion forums for better results.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/FlyoutOverview.mspx

I hope this information helps. Please get back to us if you have any more questions about this issue.

Thanks and Regards
Mir - Microsoft Answers Support Engineer                                                              
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I have windows 7 with word 2007 and I ran into a DDE problem where I could not open exsisting documents without Word 2007 already being open.  I would double click the document and get "There was a problem sending the command to the program".  Essentially, as far as I can reckon, it was hiccuping at the point where DDE openned the new instance of Word before sending the open commend.  Anyhow, this finally SEEMS to have fixed it.

My understanding is that I am telling word to open a new instance of word with each double click... the annoyance of the error message is worse than my caring about multiple words being open.

rename:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Word.Document.12 \ shell \ Open \ ddeexec
to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Word.Document.12 \ shell \ Open \ ddeexec.bk

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Word.Document.12 \ shell \ Open \ command \ command
to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Word.Document.12 \ shell \ Open \ command \ command.bk

copied:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Word.Document.12 \ shell \ Open \ command \ (Default)
to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Word.Document.12 \ shell \ Open \ command \ Default.bk

editted:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Word.Document.12 \ shell \ Open \ command \ (Default)
from
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE" /n  /dde
to
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE" /n  "%1"

Sad to say, this did not work for me.

I am very perplexed...!

Is there a simpler solution than going spelunking in the Windows Registry?

I had the same problem in Word and Excel. Here is what solved both problems.

1. Exit all Office programs.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate the following registry subkey, as appropriate for the version of Word that you are running:
   • Word 2002:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft \Office\10.0\Word\Data
   • Word 2003:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Office\11.0\Word\Data
   • Word 2007:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Office\12.0\Word\Data
   • Word 2010:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Word\Data
4. Click Data, and then click Export on the File menu.
5. Name the file Wddata.reg, and then save the file to the desktop.
6. Click Delete on the Edit menu, and then click Yes.
7. Exit Registry Editor.
8. Start Word.

None of the above works for me. I wasted whole day trying to fix this stupid problem. Word 2007 is 100% a disaster.