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

in windows explorer, i double click on a word 2007 doc  and i get an error message 'there was a problem sending the command to the program'. if i click on it a second time - it will open. irritating ..... any suggestions?

Copy Shortcut files from C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

and paste to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office

This solution worked for my situation.

What happened:

My computer came with MS Word Viewer installed

Later, I installed MS Office

After that point, I received the above error message EVERY TIME I opened a Word document from outside the application (eg, from Explorer, from an internet download, etc).

What fixed it:

Renaming/removing the key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Document.12\shell\Open\ddeexec

(I didn't take any of the other steps, because they didn't apply for my configuration)

Rationale:

The ddeexec key contained information for sending DDE messages to the nonexistent "WordView" application, not to the full Word application that was *actually* opening the "Word.Document.12" files.  The MS Office installer probably should have modified this registry key, but did not.

Perfect, thanks for the help.

Bless you. After months of frustration this works like a charm. I had my compatability mode set for xp for some reason. when I changed it to Windows 7 double clicking documents opened them perfectly!

This did not solve my issue but I am happy I was able to fix  it for me by simply unchecking on COM Add-ins from the Word Options. I've read somewhere that these COM Add-ins can make office behave weirdly and it says if you start disabling them one by one and try opening office or word in this case you might find the culprit and eliminate it. It worked like a charm for me!

Worth trying!