There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program [FIXED]

Fix There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program: If you are facing issues while trying to open Microsoft Excel file and receive the error message “There was a problem sending the command to the program” then it means that Windows is unable to connect with Microsoft Office Applications. Now if you click OK on the error message and again try to open the file, it will open without any issues. The error message will again pop up once you reboot your PC.

When you try to open a Microsoft Office file such as a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, etc, you receive following error messages:

  • There was a problem sending the command to the program.
  • An error occurred when sending commands to the program
  • Windows cannot find the file, Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.
  • Cannot find the file (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available.

There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program [FIXED]

Now you can face any one of the above error messages and in some cases, it won’t even let you open the desired file. So it really depends on user system configuration if they are able to view the file or not after clicking OK on the error message. So without wasting any time let’s see how to actually Fix There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program with the help of below-listed troubleshooting guide.

There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program [FIXED]

Make sure to create a restore point just in case something goes wrong.

Method 1: Disable Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)

1.Open Microsoft Excel program and then Click on Office ORB (or FILE menu) and then click on Excel Options.

Click on Office ORB (or FILE menu) and then click on Excel Options

2.Now in Excel Option select Advanced from the left-hand menu.

3.Scroll down to the General section in the bottom and make sure to uncheck the option “Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).

Uncheck Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)

4.Click Ok to save changes and reboot your PC.

Method 2: Disable the “Run as administrator” option

1.Go to Start menu and type the name of the program causing the issue.

2.Right-click on the program and select Open file location.

Right-click on the program and select Open file location

3.Now again right-click on the program and select Properties.

4.Switch to the Compatability tab and uncheck “Run this program as an administrator.

Uncheck Run this program as an administrator

5.Click Apply followed by OK to save changes.

6.Reboot your PC and again try to run the program and see if you’re able to Fix There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program error.

Method 3: Reset file associations

1.Right-click on the Office file and select “Open with…” option.

2.On the next screen click on More apps and then scroll down and click on “Look for another app on this PC“.

first check mark Always use this app to open .png files and then click Look for another app on this PC

Note: Make sure “Always use this application for this file type” is checked.

3.Now browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\ (For 64-bit) and C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\ (For 32-bit) and select the correct EXE file.

For example: if you are facing the above error with an excel file then browse above location then click on OfficeXX (where XX will be the Office version) and then select the EXCEL.EXE file.

Now browse to Office Folder and select the correct EXE file

4.After selecting the file make sure to click on Open.

5.This would automatically reset default file association for the particular file.

Method 4: Repair Microsoft Office

1.Press Windows Key + R then type appwiz.cpl and hit Enter in order to open Programs and Features.

type appwiz.cpl and hit Enter to open Programs and Features

2.Now from the list find Microsoft Office then right-click on it and select Change.

click change on microsoft office 365

3.Click the option Repair, and then click Continue.

Select Repair option in order repair Microsoft Office

4.Once the repair is complete reboot your PC to save changes. This should Fix There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program error, if not then continue with the next method.

Method 5: Turn off add-ins

1.Open the Office program showing errors like 1058-13 then click on Office ORB and then click on Options.

2.Now from the left-hand menu select Add-Ins and at the bottom, from Manage dropdown select COM Add-ins and click Go.

Select Add-Ins and at the bottom, from Manage dropdown select COM Add-ins and click Go

3.Clear one of the add-ins in the list, and then select OK.

Clear one of the add-ins in the list, and then select OK

4.Restart Excel or any other Office program showing the above error and see if you are able to resolve the issue.

5.If the issue still persists repeat step 1-3 for different add-ins in the list.

6.Also, once you have cleared all the COM Add-ins and still facing the error, then select Excel Add-ins from Manage dropdown and click Go.

select Excel Add-ins from Manage dropdown and click Go

7.Uncheck or clear all the add-in in the list and then select OK.

Uncheck or clear all the add-in in the list and then select OK

8.Restart Excel and this should Fix There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program.

Method 6: Disable hardware acceleration

1.Start any Office program and then click on Office ORB or File tab select Options.

2.From the left-hand menu select Advanced and scroll down to the Display section.

Uncheck Disable hardware graphics acceleration

3.Under Display make sure to uncheckDisable hardware graphics acceleration.

4.Select OK and reboot your PC to save changes.

Method 7: Registry Fix

1.Press Windows Key + R then type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.

Run command regedit

2.Navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office

3.Under Office key you will find a subkey with a name 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, etc depending upon the Microsoft Office version installed on your PC.

Right-click on Data key listed under word or excel and select Delete

4.Expand the above key and you will see Access, Excel, Groover, Outlook etc.

5.Now expand the key associated with above program which is having issues and you will find a Data key. For example: If Microsoft Word is causing the trouble then expand Word and you will see a Data key listed under it.

6.Right-click on Data key and select Delete.

See if you’re able to Fix There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program.

Method 8: Temporarily Disable Antivirus Software

1.Right-click on the Antivirus Program icon from the system tray and select Disable.

Disable auto-protect to disable your Antivirus

2.Next, select the time frame for which the Antivirus will remain disabled.

select the duration until when the antivirus will be disabled

Note: Choose the smallest amount of time possible for example 15 minutes or 30 minutes.

3.Once done, again try to open Microsoft Excel and check if the stdole32.tlb error is resolved or not.

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That’s it you have successfully Fix There was a Problem Sending the Command to the Program error but if you still have any questions regarding this post feel free to ask them in the comment’s section.

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