Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section. Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

• Proposed as answer by howardsydney Monday, January 25, 2010 12:27 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:21 AM

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section. Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

• Proposed as answer by howardsydney Monday, January 25, 2010 12:27 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:21 AM

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section. Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section. Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

• Proposed as answer by howardsydney Monday, January 25, 2010 12:27 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:21 AM

"General" section. Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" is not checked.

• Proposed as answer by Aptcode Saturday, February 27, 2010 4:38 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:25 AM

• Proposed as answer by Aptcode Saturday, February 27, 2010 4:38 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:25 AM

• Proposed as answer by Aptcode Saturday, February 27, 2010 4:38 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:25 AM

• Proposed as answer by AtoBI Thursday, May 13, 2010 2:42 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:25 AM

• Proposed as answer by AtoBI Thursday, May 13, 2010 2:42 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:25 AM

• Proposed as answer by AtoBI Thursday, May 13, 2010 2:42 PM
• Marked as answer by David Wolters Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:25 AM

I have that problem with all Office 2007 programs running on Windows 7. Neither fix worked since the "Ignore DDE" option was not selected and Word was not set to run as an administrator.

• Proposed as answer by zeeshan991 Thursday, September 30, 2010 12:15 PM

• Proposed as answer by zeeshan991 Thursday, September 30, 2010 12:15 PM

• Proposed as answer by zeeshan991 Thursday, September 30, 2010 12:15 PM

Awsome that worked.. Thanks

• Proposed as answer by Kris Amerijckx Monday, February 15, 2010 9:07 AM

• Proposed as answer by Kris Amerijckx Monday, February 15, 2010 9:07 AM

• Proposed as answer by Kris Amerijckx Monday, February 15, 2010 9:07 AM

@mykcooper Do you have all updates installed? And which version of Windows 7 are you using?
I know some people at Microsoft and will try to escalate this for you.

Thanks to JTett20175. It is fixed.

THANKS TO ALL!!!!

Work for me as well by changing the :

File-Options-Advanced-General-Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) on OFFICE 2010 Professional PLUS.

This problem start when i had office 2007, i lived with it, then upgraded to office 2010 beta thinking it might resolve, but problem remained. Then with the launch of Production Office 2010 Professional Plus, uninstalled beta version and reinstalled office 2010 pro plus but still the problem remained. Finally, after googling today, reached this link and did the above (as explained earlier) and fixed.

Regards,

M.A.B

Tks, it works fine

Rgs

Sidney

Thanks  A lot , it worked for me :)

Jazak Allah

You are a legend......fixed my problem straight away

Cheers

• Proposed as answer by AtoBI Thursday, May 13, 2010 3:22 PM

• Proposed as answer by AtoBI Thursday, May 13, 2010 3:22 PM

By unchecking the option of DDE , Excel 2007 works good

• Proposed as answer by AtoBI Thursday, May 13, 2010 3:22 PM

This worked for me too -- but I wanted to add another piece of information. I believe the smoking gun in my case was the recent installation of MS Office Live Update 1.4. This is not something I asked for, and I may never want or need it, but installing it on my computer was part of the normal update process. This gives me  yet another reason to be suspicious of these automatic updates -- if it ain't broke, and all that. This is not the first time I've had a new problem pushed to me under the guise of an "upgrade."

I want to open 2 separate windows on dual monitor systems, so I click at DDE but then this problem occur.  I'm using Windows 7-64 bits with office 2010 pro plus-64bits.  Could anyone help? I don't want to open excel manually

thanks you verey much

you give us acorrect answer for this problem and we try it and it working not 100%

solution of DDE worked for me. Now i am not able to open two excel sheets in two seperate windows.

It is not working for me.

The checkbox is not check and I still have this problem

Does Anybody know why???

For people who DDE solution fails try this:

If you have Windows 7 32 bits go to program files --> microsoft office --> office 12 (or if you have office 2010 then go to office 14) --> right click on EXCEL.EXE --> choose Properties, then click on Compatibility tab and if you have anything checked in that tab uncheck it.

If you have 64 bits then instead of program files go to 'program files x86', the rest is the same.

Enjoy it.

Cheers.

• Proposed as answer by Flukemeister Thursday, September 02, 2010 3:54 PM

For people who DDE solution fails try this:

If you have Windows 7 32 bits go to program files --> microsoft office --> office 12 (or if you have office 2010 then go to office 14) --> right click on EXCEL.EXE --> choose Properties, then click on Compatibility tab and if you have anything checked in that tab uncheck it.

If you have 64 bits then instead of program files go to 'program files x86', the rest is the same.

Enjoy it.

Cheers.

• Proposed as answer by Flukemeister Thursday, September 02, 2010 3:54 PM

For people who DDE solution fails try this:

If you have Windows 7 32 bits go to program files --> microsoft office --> office 12 (or if you have office 2010 then go to office 14) --> right click on EXCEL.EXE --> choose Properties, then click on Compatibility tab and if you have anything checked in that tab uncheck it.

If you have 64 bits then instead of program files go to 'program files x86', the rest is the same.

Enjoy it.

Cheers.

For people who DDE solution fails try this:

If you have Windows 7 32 bits go to program files --> microsoft office --> office 12 (or if you have office 2010 then go to office 14) --> right click on EXCEL.EXE --> choose Properties, then click on Compatibility tab and if you have anything checked in that tab uncheck it.

If you have 64 bits then instead of program files go to 'program files x86', the rest is the same.

Enjoy it.

Cheers.

• Proposed as answer by Flukemeister Thursday, September 02, 2010 3:54 PM

solution of DDE worked for me. Now i am not able to open two excel sheets in two seperate windows.

Opening Excel from the Start Menu will create a new instance (window) for Excel [Dual Monitor Usage]. You can then use Open File... or drag your excel file from Explorer to the Excel you want to view it in.

Set DDE, still have the same issue - Work around is to double click on the file again ~or~ drag the file from Explorer to an open Excel instance.

Having struggled with this issue for a few weeks on a clients pc, I tried all suggestions including the DDE, Run As Administrator, /regserver etc..

I discovered somehow the program had set itself to run in XP SP2 compatibility mode.

Removing this, solved my problem.

(rightclick Icon, Properties, Compatability - uncheck compatability mode)

A

This is exactly the fix for me, and great presentation of the issue and fix

Oilrigger88

I had the same problem on windows vista, excel 2007. Couldnt open any xls file directly - had to open excel then browse to the file and open.

Fir me, I sorted it out as follows:

goto the actual excel shortcut (to a file but to the program).

Rhight click, properties, compatibility, then I found "open in compatibility mode for xp sp2" was ticked. Once I unticked that, it all worked fine!!

Thanks everyone though because the suggestions here helped me find the problem.

Found the answer to my problem on another site.  In case anyone else has this problem....

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" is not checked. 

This did fix my problem

Changing the Compatibility tab worked after trying all the other solutions posted here.  Would be nice if Microsoft offered that or the other solutions posted here in a pop-up box instead of the stupid error box.  This all happened after upgrading to Window 7 running Office 2007.

See below....

For people who DDE solution fails try this:

If you have Windows 7 32 bits go to program files --> microsoft office --> office 12 (or if you have office 2010 then go to office 14) --> right click on EXCEL.EXE --> choose Properties, then click on Compatibility tab and if you have anything checked in that tab uncheck it.

If you have 64 bits then instead of program files go to 'program files x86', the rest is the same.

Enjoy it.

Cheers.

For people who DDE solution fails try this:

If you have Windows 7 32 bits go to program files --> microsoft office --> office 12 (or if you have office 2010 then go to office 14) --> right click on EXCEL.EXE --> choose Properties, then click on Compatibility tab and if you have anything checked in that tab uncheck it.

If you have 64 bits then instead of program files go to 'program files x86', the rest is the same.

Enjoy it.

Cheers.

Hey Flukemeister

Yours is the only solution that's worked for me after months of trying to fix it. Brilliant!

me exactly johnny

kris i'm running windows 7 home premium and having same problems as everyone else......would appreciate

help...thanks... 

Your solution WORKED PERFECT!!!

I tried all but only your solution is the best one I found and correct 100%. if anyone facing same error" problem sending command to program" 

Thank you sooo much 

Exellent!! Thank You

Thanks - worked like a charm - I wonder where my IT department is at with my service request???  :~  

Always appreciate those who really seem to know what they are doing.  Thanks again.

Excelllent ................  It is workin in 2010 tooooooooooo..

Good job done JTett20175 :)

None of the solutions given here work. Problem appeared to come suddenly.

Tried

1. DDE CheckBox

2. Set Defaul printer

3. Compatibility

4. Addins

None worked

OK, sorry, first time on this forum... 

I put the UAC settings to minimum and that fixed it for us.  We had tried all the other solutions posted above before adjusting the UAC.

• Proposed as answer by CiscoKid248 Tuesday, November 23, 2010 9:06 PM

OK, sorry, first time on this forum... 

I put the UAC settings to minimum and that fixed it for us.  We had tried all the other solutions posted above before adjusting the UAC.

• Proposed as answer by CiscoKid248 Tuesday, November 23, 2010 9:06 PM

Dymo label software 8 add-on was it for me.

Uninstalled the little monster and Excel works fine.

OK, sorry, first time on this forum... 

I put the UAC settings to minimum and that fixed it for us.  We had tried all the other solutions posted above before adjusting the UAC.

OK, sorry, first time on this forum... 

I put the UAC settings to minimum and that fixed it for us.  We had tried all the other solutions posted above before adjusting the UAC.

• Proposed as answer by CiscoKid248 Tuesday, November 23, 2010 9:06 PM

I tried everything and this is what worked for me

Right Click on the icon and go to Properties

Under Opens with click on CHANGE button.

Then set it to Microsoft Excel.

I found out on mine they all got set to something else.  When I did it for this one sheet it changed the rest of them. 

I have Office 2007 on windows 7.  HOPE THIS HELPS!!!!

• Proposed as answer by mostwireless Wednesday, November 24, 2010 7:15 PM

I tried everything and this is what worked for me

Right Click on the icon and go to Properties

Under Opens with click on CHANGE button.

Then set it to Microsoft Excel.

I found out on mine they all got set to something else.  When I did it for this one sheet it changed the rest of them. 

I have Office 2007 on windows 7.  HOPE THIS HELPS!!!!

• Proposed as answer by mostwireless Wednesday, November 24, 2010 7:15 PM

I tried everything and this is what worked for me

Right Click on the icon and go to Properties

Under Opens with click on CHANGE button.

Then set it to Microsoft Excel.

I found out on mine they all got set to something else.  When I did it for this one sheet it changed the rest of them. 

I have Office 2007 on windows 7.  HOPE THIS HELPS!!!!

I tried everything and this is what worked for me

Right Click on the icon and go to Properties

Under Opens with click on CHANGE button.

Then set it to Microsoft Excel.

I found out on mine they all got set to something else.  When I did it for this one sheet it changed the rest of them. 

I have Office 2007 on windows 7.  HOPE THIS HELPS!!!!

• Proposed as answer by mostwireless Wednesday, November 24, 2010 7:15 PM

Just in case you are as lame as I am:

You have to go to the windows button AFTER the application will not open.

Then at the Bottom you go to Excel Options.

It took me a while to figure that out.  I'm sure most of you are better at this than I am.  :)

Thanks for the help!

thanks it is work now,

again thank you very much

Hi Tett20175

I wanted to say thank you & to all the rest with the solution.  That fixed the problem !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks warrior57

I finally figured out how to run more than one instance in Excel.  Thank you PC WORLD !!  Sorry it took me so long.

1.  Open your excel spreadsheet #1. This can be a blank sheet, or an existing file.

2.  With the <Shift> key pressed, open a blank Excel (a blank initial file, not an existing one).  It will open the new blank spreadsheet in a new second instance. You then navigate to your second file and open it manually.

JTETT20175

None of the solutions given here work. Problem appeared to come suddenly.

Tried

1. DDE CheckBox

2. Set Defaul printer

3. Compatibility

4. Addins

 

None worked

Like Shrishail, I have tried everything that is posted.  I am ruunning Win7 x64 and Office 2010.  I had a document open, closed it, tried to open it again and got the message.  Now, if I click on a shortcut to an excel document, I get the message, click OK, then get a message that the document can't be found.  I then have a excel window open with nothing in it, and if I click on the shortcut again, it opens.

What gives???

It seems to me that the problem is due to another program using Excel. Probably a bad Add-in that's causing this. You can try to disbale Add-ins via 'Excel Options' -> 'Add-Ins'.
Note that you have to restart Excel after you disable an Add-in.

Hope this helps you!

As a software developer, Visual Studio 2010 put a Team Foundation COM add-in as an active add-in. After disabling that (I don't use Team Foundation Server) and unchecking DDE, I'm now irritant-free!

Thanks for pointing me in the Add-In direction, Kris.

Brian

I have been having this same problem with Excel 2007 recently about half of the times I try to launch Excel. The DDE checkbox is NOT checked and never has been. SOmeone else in this thread suggested that if this fix didn't work then uncheck the Run as Administrator option for Word, but Excel does not appear to have that option.

Just for the record. If you have Microsoft Word Viewer or any Office Viewer installed, maybe the default application that is starting is the viewer. If the viewer is an older version than Office 2007 the  error is going to be displayed.   Right click the .docx then go to open with: and press Change ... Chose the Office Word 2007 instead of the viewer.  Other option, uninstall the office viewer.

Hey..thank you so much for the post.. this is great... It worked for me. 

Today morning one of our employee had the same issue and this quick trick worked fine for us. I think when there is update for Office few options could change without any intervention of ours... Anyways thank you so much for the quick trick.

My syetm Configuration is: Windows 7 Pro 32-bit & MS-Office 2007 Standard.

Chrees,

Ram

Thanks! This solved the problem for me!

Extremely helpful

Thanks

The Buckster

None of the solutions given here work. Problem appeared to come suddenly.

Tried

1. DDE CheckBox

2. Set Defaul printer

3. Compatibility

4. Addins

 

None worked

It Works.

Thanks

Let me just say that for me, using Excel 2010 that when you have visual studio installed, that it's best to make sure that none of the COM addins are enabled. remove them if possible.

After that is taken care off, make sure that DDE is NOT checked. That also helps.

Finally, in my case, you should right click on the Excel application and make sure that it isn't being run by an administrator. You will need to do this on the original Excel applicaiton itself. not an xls file made with excel.

Cheers!

• Proposed as answer by Gigafrost Monday, March 21, 2011 3:36 PM

Let me just say that for me, using Excel 2010 that when you have visual studio installed, that it's best to make sure that none of the COM addins are enabled. remove them if possible.

After that is taken care off, make sure that DDE is NOT checked. That also helps.

Finally, in my case, you should right click on the Excel application and make sure that it isn't being run by an administrator. You will need to do this on the original Excel applicaiton itself. not an xls file made with excel.

Cheers!

• Proposed as answer by Gigafrost Monday, March 21, 2011 3:36 PM

Let me just say that for me, using Excel 2010 that when you have visual studio installed, that it's best to make sure that none of the COM addins are enabled. remove them if possible.

After that is taken care off, make sure that DDE is NOT checked. That also helps.

Finally, in my case, you should right click on the Excel application and make sure that it isn't being run by an administrator. You will need to do this on the original Excel applicaiton itself. not an xls file made with excel.

Cheers!

Let me just say that for me, using Excel 2010 that when you have visual studio installed, that it's best to make sure that none of the COM addins are enabled. remove them if possible.

After that is taken care off, make sure that DDE is NOT checked. That also helps.

Finally, in my case, you should right click on the Excel application and make sure that it isn't being run by an administrator. You will need to do this on the original Excel applicaiton itself. not an xls file made with excel.

Cheers!

• Proposed as answer by Gigafrost Monday, March 21, 2011 3:36 PM

• Proposed as answer by AmjadRaja Thursday, April 14, 2011 6:28 AM
• Unproposed as answer by David Wolters Monday, April 25, 2011 6:29 PM

• Proposed as answer by AmjadRaja Thursday, April 14, 2011 6:28 AM
• Unproposed as answer by David Wolters Monday, April 25, 2011 6:29 PM

• Proposed as answer by AmjadRaja Thursday, April 14, 2011 6:28 AM
• Unproposed as answer by David Wolters Monday, April 25, 2011 6:29 PM

Hi JT,

I tried this, and it didn't work.

It would be nice to be able to open an excel sheet by double clicking it. Now it doesn't work. Rather I have to get into a blank sheet, open, and navigate to it.

Any suggestions for plan B? 

Thank you!

You don't need to check this box to open excel on both monitors.  Pin Excel to the taskbar if you haven't done so already.Open the first file then right-click Excel on the task bar and click Excel.  This will open another Excel app which you can place on the second monitor. 

Bill Anderson
IT Administrator
Mills Products, Inc
it@millsproducts.com

Would a Microsoft review like to weigh in on this issue?  It appears to be not entirely simple, and, while some apparent resolutions are listed here, providing an authoritative link with a clean, step-by-step routine to perform (or to send to users) could go a long way to alleviating user frustration.

I suddenly saw this error when trying to open .xlsx files by double clicking after changing the Windows UAC setting from "Off" to "Default".  My Excel 2007 Option to Ignore DDE was never checked.  By unchecking the property of "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" to NOT open as administrator I fixed the issue.

Very odd behavior

i had the same problem, i followed the steps above and solved the problem!

Thanks

Anand

Let me just say that for me, using Excel 2010 that when you have visual studio installed, that it's best to make sure that none of the COM addins are enabled. remove them if possible.

This is worth checking even if you didn't select Office Development as part of your Visual Studio install. I starting getting the error with Excel 2007 SP2 on Win7 Pro x64 SP1 after installing VS2010 Pro, and it turns out that even though I only selected VC++ the VS installer kindly added a COM Team Foundation Add-In to Excel.

Strange thing is that doing a Repair from the Programs control panel as a standard user fixed the error for me, and it was only afterwards that I noticed the unwanted add-in. Maybe the VS installer messed something up in the per-user Excel config?

Found the answer to my problem on another site.  In case anyone else has this problem....

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" is not checked. 

This did fix my problem

This fixed my problem(s) as well :-)

Prior to this I was having two issues:

1. Excel would not open when I double clicked on any spreadsheet from the Windows Explorer.
2. Could not open any excel spreadsheets from Outlook.

Thanks for your answer!

Hi

Many thanks, it was amazing. It Solved completly my problem...

Regards

This problem has plagued me and slowed down my work considerably - driving me absolutely crazy.  None of the issues listed above worked (in fact, some of them really seemed to cause more problems).  However, I followed your advice in going to the program features (I had danced around this folder, but hadn't hit 'change' because I was afraid of what might happen).  And then, once I did this, hit "repair" it was golden after that; my files opened without a hitch, and no more of that annoying error prompt that says that there's an error sending the command to the program...  Thank you so much.

This worked 100%, thank you JTett20175!

Here is the best link for this issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211494

Thanks

This worked for me like a charm!!!!!!

Thanks a lot.

I tried all the steps mentioned in this forum, but still the issue persist.

When I click on the Excel file that is stored on the desktop, it kick start the Excel application and open up the blank. The contents of the file does not open or display. It is blank. 

thank you.  i just did it and it worked. you saved me fortune as i was about to go pay to get it fixed. :)

This problem has plagued me and slowed down my work considerably - driving me absolutely crazy.  None of the issues listed above worked (in fact, some of them really seemed to cause more problems).  However, I followed your advice in going to the program features (I had danced around this folder, but hadn't hit 'change' because I was afraid of what might happen).  And then, once I did this, hit "repair" it was golden after that; my files opened without a hitch, and no more of that annoying error prompt that says that there's an error sending the command to the program...  Thank you so much.

Thank you -  Thank you  this DID fix my problem immediately.

Cheers Isagold

Thanks JTett20175 "THIS SOLVES MY PROBLEM, VERY HELPFUL".

SOLUTION:

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

• Edited by HerbertPayson Monday, October 17, 2011 6:28 AM

Thanks JTett20175 "THIS SOLVES MY PROBLEM, VERY HELPFUL".

SOLUTION:

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

• Edited by HerbertPayson Monday, October 17, 2011 6:28 AM

Thanks JTett20175 "THIS SOLVES MY PROBLEM, VERY HELPFUL".

SOLUTION:

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

Thanks JTett20175 "THIS SOLVES MY PROBLEM, VERY HELPFUL".

SOLUTION:

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

• Edited by HerbertPayson Monday, October 17, 2011 6:28 AM

you are a lifesaver man... this really helped..

 thanks....

_____________________________________________________________________________________

An Open Book on a Marble Tomb

the wind that walks beneath the leaves

as the sands of time they slowly Fall

I KNow me Much and Not at all..

Have had so much drama with this and has been very frustrating to see solutions that work but not for me. Thanks a buch for sorting me out.

I had the same problem.  I could not open an Excel file by clicking on the file itself or its shortcut.  The problem was resolved by changing the compatibility setting to "Windows 7".

Let me know if it works for you too.

Soooooooo glad I found this so quickly ,

was driving me crazy , such a simple thing and its all working again

Thanks for taking the time to post it here , V helpful !

Andy

Found the answer to my problem on another site.  In case anyone else has this problem....

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" is not checked. 

This did fix my problem

OK, sorry, first time on this forum... 

 

I put the UAC settings to minimum and that fixed it for us.  We had tried all the other solutions posted above before adjusting the UAC.

For people who DDE solution fails try this:

If you have Windows 7 32 bits go to program files --> microsoft office --> office 12 (or if you have office 2010 then go to office 14) --> right click on EXCEL.EXE --> choose Properties, then click on Compatibility tab and if you have anything checked in that tab uncheck it.

If you have 64 bits then instead of program files go to 'program files x86', the rest is the same.

Enjoy it.

Cheers.

• Proposed as answer by Ozziepete Sunday, March 25, 2012 10:06 AM
• Unproposed as answer by Ozziepete Sunday, March 25, 2012 10:06 AM

• Proposed as answer by Ozziepete Sunday, March 25, 2012 10:06 AM
• Unproposed as answer by Ozziepete Sunday, March 25, 2012 10:06 AM

• Proposed as answer by Ozziepete Sunday, March 25, 2012 10:06 AM
• Unproposed as answer by Ozziepete Sunday, March 25, 2012 10:06 AM

I've had the problem for a couple of months, driving me mad.  

I have Windows Professional 64 bit with Office Professional 2007.  When trying to load some Excel files that had been created in Office 2003, into Excel 2007, Excel would stop withe the error :"Excel has stopped working".  I tried all the solutions listed above but none worked.  

I tried copying some of the .xls files that wouldn't open on my PC to my Macbook and they opened in Mac Office 2004.  I then saved them on the Mac as .xlsx and tried to open them in Excel 2007.  Some would open but those with macros still would not. 

I uninstalled all the s/w I had installed since I first noticed the problem but still no change.

I eventually found this article on the Office File Validation Add-in at: http://windowssecrets.com/patch-watch/office-file-validation-patch-leads-to-problems/  I uninstalled the add-in and can now open all my old .xls spreadsheets.   Interestingly, the problem did not occur until four months after Windows Update had installed the Add-in.

PHEW!!

Hi,

For those who are having trouble with the instrcutions, I made a post with screenshots for this solution:

http://www.out-of-warranty.com/excel-error-message-problem-sending-the-command-to-the-program/

Hope it helps.

regards,

Nik

Thanks very much for this tip, JT.  It resolved my issue.

This happened for the first time in many years so I Googled the error message but I have no idea how I got away opening Excel after all these years.  Again, thanks!

Problem unresolved:

I am using MS Office 2010 (service pack 1) 64 bit with Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit (service pack 1).

When ever I double click any .xls file: "There was a problem...." error message is displayed. But if i first open excel and then open the file, in that case no problem.

I have unchecked 'Ignore other applications that use DDE'. As a precaution, I checked the DDE option, closed excel, opened excel a 2nd time to uncheck the DDE option.
I have disabled and removed all COM add-ins
I have unchecked all compatibility options.

I have also changed the default printer to XPS writer.

But still I get the error. I have also reinstalled office 2010 and applied all updates.

thanx alot . this fixed our problem. really greatful for your help

regards,

Wasim Ahsen

Found the answer to my problem on another site.  In case anyone else has this problem....

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" is not checked. 

This did fix my problem

Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" is not checked.

This fixed my problem as well.

I was unable to double-click to open an Excel spreadsheet but able to open one through File/Open.

I experienced the same issue. But at first I found the advanced setting was unchecked already. To fix my issue, I checked it on, confirmed temporary setting, closed Excel, opened Excel, opened the advanced settings dialog again, unchecked the setting, confirmed new setting, closed Excel.

I cant bring up Excel application at all. no matter how I try it, I end up with this error "There was a problem sending the command to the program".

I tried that "Fix it" option from support site... didn't work.

unable to open Excel application to go to the options --> advanced --> etc etc...

Any clues ??

same problem

Dear

I am running Windows 7, with Office 2007.  All of a sudden when I open an excel file I get the "There was a problem sending the command to the program".

Thanks

I have the same problem w/ 7 running 64bit. None of the solutions resolved the problem

if anyone is having this issue and has tried the DDE setting fix and had no success. I would recommend turning of the multiple processor setting and also the HT setting. 

The message is a general response to a DDE timeout occurring.  (Excel takes too long to respond.)  So anything that makes Excel "hang" could be the culprit.

In my case it is network related:  Excel seems to want to make connections to all the printers I have defined.  When I am at home my work printers are inaccessible, but the stupid networking takes much too long to figure that out.  Hence the delays and timeouts.  If I turn off my networking Excel starts up immediately.  (The networking is clever enough to time out quickly in this case!)  

The same sort of problem exists in File Explorer if I map a drive to a share at work, and take the laptop home.  Explorer chokes trying to access the inaccessibe share.

I'm not sure if there are sensible workarounds: perhaps using fully qualified domain names for shared resources would help, or perhaps rebooting the laptop when I get home.  Or uninstalling my work printers.  Or turning off my networking while Excel starts up.  etc.

• Proposed as answer by cspwcspw-pete Saturday, October 27, 2012 5:41 AM

The message is a general response to a DDE timeout occurring.  (Excel takes too long to respond.)  So anything that makes Excel "hang" could be the culprit.

In my case it is network related:  Excel seems to want to make connections to all the printers I have defined.  When I am at home my work printers are inaccessible, but the stupid networking takes much too long to figure that out.  Hence the delays and timeouts.  If I turn off my networking Excel starts up immediately.  (The networking is clever enough to time out quickly in this case!)  

The same sort of problem exists in File Explorer if I map a drive to a share at work, and take the laptop home.  Explorer chokes trying to access the inaccessibe share.

I'm not sure if there are sensible workarounds: perhaps using fully qualified domain names for shared resources would help, or perhaps rebooting the laptop when I get home.  Or uninstalling my work printers.  Or turning off my networking while Excel starts up.  etc.

• Proposed as answer by cspwcspw-pete Saturday, October 27, 2012 5:41 AM

The message is a general response to a DDE timeout occurring.  (Excel takes too long to respond.)  So anything that makes Excel "hang" could be the culprit.

In my case it is network related:  Excel seems to want to make connections to all the printers I have defined.  When I am at home my work printers are inaccessible, but the stupid networking takes much too long to figure that out.  Hence the delays and timeouts.  If I turn off my networking Excel starts up immediately.  (The networking is clever enough to time out quickly in this case!)  

The same sort of problem exists in File Explorer if I map a drive to a share at work, and take the laptop home.  Explorer chokes trying to access the inaccessibe share.

I'm not sure if there are sensible workarounds: perhaps using fully qualified domain names for shared resources would help, or perhaps rebooting the laptop when I get home.  Or uninstalling my work printers.  Or turning off my networking while Excel starts up.  etc.

The message is a general response to a DDE timeout occurring.  (Excel takes too long to respond.)  So anything that makes Excel "hang" could be the culprit.

In my case it is network related:  Excel seems to want to make connections to all the printers I have defined.  When I am at home my work printers are inaccessible, but the stupid networking takes much too long to figure that out.  Hence the delays and timeouts.  If I turn off my networking Excel starts up immediately.  (The networking is clever enough to time out quickly in this case!)  

The same sort of problem exists in File Explorer if I map a drive to a share at work, and take the laptop home.  Explorer chokes trying to access the inaccessibe share.

I'm not sure if there are sensible workarounds: perhaps using fully qualified domain names for shared resources would help, or perhaps rebooting the laptop when I get home.  Or uninstalling my work printers.  Or turning off my networking while Excel starts up.  etc.

• Proposed as answer by cspwcspw-pete Saturday, October 27, 2012 5:41 AM

To: Austin.W

Thank you. Thank you.   I too tried the suggestions: DDE, Run As Administrator, to no avail.  Your compatability mode solution was the only working solution to my Windows 7/MS Office 2007 problem.

I have no idea why my Compatablility mode was checked on Excel and Word.  Unchecked and problem went away immediately!

• Edited by MikeMontague Wednesday, November 21, 2012 6:10 PM

To: Austin.W

Thank you. Thank you.   I too tried the suggestions: DDE, Run As Administrator, to no avail.  Your compatability mode solution was the only working solution to my Windows 7/MS Office 2007 problem.

I have no idea why my Compatablility mode was checked on Excel and Word.  Unchecked and problem went away immediately!

• Edited by MikeMontague Wednesday, November 21, 2012 6:10 PM

To: Austin.W

Thank you. Thank you.   I too tried the suggestions: DDE, Run As Administrator, to no avail.  Your compatability mode solution was the only working solution to my Windows 7/MS Office 2007 problem.

I have no idea why my Compatablility mode was checked on Excel and Word.  Unchecked and problem went away immediately!

To: Austin.W

Thank you. Thank you.   I too tried the suggestions: DDE, Run As Administrator, to no avail.  Your compatability mode solution was the only working solution to my Windows 7/MS Office 2007 problem.

I have no idea why my Compatablility mode was checked on Excel and Word.  Unchecked and problem went away immediately!

• Edited by MikeMontague Wednesday, November 21, 2012 6:10 PM

Found the answer to my problem on another site.  In case anyone else has this problem....

Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" is not checked. 

This did fix my problem

This was also a very common problem for us, and your answer fixed it.   thanks

thank you!

 I don't know what happened but my shortcuts would not open. This fixed my problem!

Thanks.Its now working

Waoooo. That works. great. Thanks A lot.

It's really helpful...

I have Microsoft Office standard 2007 and I am running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.  

Open Excel, and click on the Microsoft Icon at the top left.  In the window at the bottom is "Excel Options".  Click it.
Then select "Advanced" on the left side of the screen.  When the display comes up, you need to scroll almost to the bottom.
Under the blue "General" category, will be  "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE )"
Make sure it is not checked.

• Edited by AmitChugh Tuesday, September 03, 2013 8:33 PM

It's really helpful...

I have Microsoft Office standard 2007 and I am running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.  

Open Excel, and click on the Microsoft Icon at the top left.  In the window at the bottom is "Excel Options".  Click it.
Then select "Advanced" on the left side of the screen.  When the display comes up, you need to scroll almost to the bottom.
Under the blue "General" category, will be  "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE )"
Make sure it is not checked.

• Edited by AmitChugh Tuesday, September 03, 2013 8:33 PM

It's really helpful...

I have Microsoft Office standard 2007 and I am running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.  

Open Excel, and click on the Microsoft Icon at the top left.  In the window at the bottom is "Excel Options".  Click it.
Then select "Advanced" on the left side of the screen.  When the display comes up, you need to scroll almost to the bottom.
Under the blue "General" category, will be  "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE )"
Make sure it is not checked.

• Edited by AmitChugh Tuesday, September 03, 2013 8:33 PM

Thanks to the person that found the answer originally and to you for posting it in this forum after finding it on another site!

It helped me fix two instances of this problem.

Work very well.
Thnks.

It also works for me ,Thanks

"Bring up the Excel options, go to advanced and then scroll down to the

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use

Sorry, this did nothing to help me. Running Excel 2007. Unchecked the DDE option and still cannot open spreadsheets without this error popping up defiantly.

"General" section.  Make sure that "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)" is not checked. 

It also did it for me - Thank you

Running Windows 7, 64bit, office 2007

A solution for this that I found was to, go to start, all programs, MS Office folder, right click on the Excel icon, scroll down to "properties",  click on the "Compatibility" tab and uncheck the box in "Compatibility mode" next to "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"

Hope this helps.



Thanks A lot

Excel 2007, win 7 64. Only thing that worked for me, was changing compatibility mode to win 7, which cleared up my problems for both .xls and .xlsx files.

Worked perfectly!

Many thanks