Microsoft Excel Error: "There was a problem sending the command to the program."
For the last three years or more, I’ve been living with a little annoyance with Microsoft Excel. It’s one of those things that’s just not quite annoying enough to get to the bottom of, and I figured it was some obscure registry setting I’d never find and must be something odd about my laptop setup only. Sure, I tried a few times to fix it, but I never got anywhere.
Well, today as I was moving from the laptop I’ve been using through the last three years to my brand spanking new HP Envy 15 (more about this bad boy later), I got the dreaded “There was a problem sending the command to the program.” error on the new machine. Ok, now it was personal.
The error occurred anytime I tried to open an Excel file from outside Excel by clicking on it in Windows Explorer or an email. It can look like either of these two examples:
The bottom line is that while the Excel application opens just fine, it doesn’t open the file, showing the error instead. (“Was this information helpful?” No, not so much.)
Off to the Interwebs, and I finally found a post in some obscure forum (three or four reboots later, I have no idea where it was) that gave me a clue about the cause. There’s a setting in Excel 2007 which prevents it from opening files if the request comes via Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), and it is enabled by default. Go to the Office Button / Excel Options / Advanced, and scroll all the way down to the General section. There you will see the “Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)” setting checked. Uncheck the box, click OK to apply, and you’re good to go. Never mind that those very applications that want to use DDE may be other Office apps!
<UPDATE dateTime=”2011-07-21T16:48″>If you’re using Office 2007, the Office Button is the big circle with the logo in the upper left of the screen shown above. If you’re using Office 2010, there’s no longer a button, but what’s called “backstage”, shown below.</UPDATE>
Thank you very much i just solved a similar problem that had been lingering on my CFO’s laptop for over 3weeks now;having reinstalled the Office package, the problem persisted..i was considering a reformatting as a final option before i came across this..and quite simply put by you, this wonderful piece to me is powerful. Thanks a bunch and keep up the good work. Stay blessed and keep it coming..
Love it when a post solves a CFO’s problem. ;+)
M.
Thanks, but how about for Excel 2010? This does not fix the problem there. I still get the same ‘There was a problem sending command…’ error message, and I cannot open files directly from the files themselves, but I have to take an extra step of opening excel then going to file>open… etc. This is extremely frustrating when trying to open email attachments, as I currently have to save the file to a temp location, find it, open excel, open the file, view it, and then delete it when I’m done. Yeah…. I know
I’m not impressed with Office 2010 in general to be honest. They tried to make it flashy and shiny, but it’s just difficult to use, and even less customizable than Office 2003. I have had more problems in my 2 months of using 2010 than ever before, mainly due to compatibility issues. Anyway this isnt a software review, so how do I fix this problem for Excel 2010?
Brian:
Sorry that you aren’t enjoying Office 2010. I’m finding it to be a significant improvement over Office 2007, and I’ve had very few issues. (And, no, I’m not a shill for Microsoft.)
I’m not sure exactly what setting is going to solve this for you in Excel 2010. I see the same option in Options / Advanced / General, though, and I’ve had others tell me that it solved the problem for them.
M.
Merci !
so good
thanks
It worked fine for too. Thanks a great deal, Mac!
It worked-thank you so, so much. I can get on with my invoicing now!
I’m getting this error in Excel 2007 and my “Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) is already unchecked. Still looking for the answer
And so am I. I’ve now seen it on 3 different PC’s, all with Windows 7 Ultimate and Office 2007. It’s driving me mad, I’ve tried everything suggested but still the problem persists. I suspect it’s a basic flaw with Wibdows 7, I haven’t seen it on any of our workstations running under XP Pro.
Paul:
I’m only an N of 1 on this, but when I was running Windows 7 and Office 2007, this trick solved it for me. So I don’t think it’s Windows 7, per se, though it may be a part of the mix. I also saw this with Vista.
M.
I understand that, but, as I said, none of the fixes here have worked for me. It’s happening on 3 workstations out of my 25, and it’s only happening on those with Windows 7 Ultimate (both 64-bit and 32-bit), none of the Windows XP workstations have this problem. Googling the problem seems to bear out the fact that it’s a pretty common problem, and whilst your fixes work for many there are a core of us who have used all the fixes but still have the problem.
I hear you. Just trying to relate my experience. There are always a lot of variables in these things.
M.
very helpful, solved my problem directly.. thanks for posting.. :)
mind if I put it in my blog and sharing it in my own language? (indonesian)
thanks..
Glad it helped, Handy. Feel free to translate for your blog. Could you include a link back, though? ;+) Thanks for asking — usually people just “borrow” content without asking or linking back.
M.