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

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

Delete the Word Data registry key Most of the frequently used options in Word are stored in the Word Data registry key. A common troubleshooting step is to delete the Word Data registry key. The next time that you start Word, Word rebuilds the Word Data registry key by using the default settings. 

To view these options in Word 2002 or Word 2003, click Options on the Tools menu.

To view these options in Word 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.

Note When you delete the Word Data registry key, Word resets several options to their default settings. One such option is the "most recently used file" list on the File menu. Additionally, Word resets many settings that you customize in the Options dialog box. 

To delete the Word Data registry key, follow these steps:

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.

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"

Hello

Welcome to Microsoft Answers Forum!

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                                                              

Visit our http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/answersfeedback/threads

Sad to say, this did not work for me.

I am very perplexed...!

There's got to be another way. My symptoms are identical but none of the above corrected the problem. This is very irritating.  As a matter of fact I believe the entire Office 2007 is a giant step BACKWARDS everything is completely different and what use to be done with one click now takes three for four.  I can't believe they call this an improvement. I'm afraid to look at 2010... instead, I'm just about ready to give up, uninstall, and go back to 2003. Can somone convince me that I shouldn't?   Please.