Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 3, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016
During this last month none of Edward's Excel workbooks can be opened by double-clicking the file. They all return an error message: "There was a problem while sending the command to the program." If he opens Excel first, then opens the workbook from within Excel, they open normally. Edward wonders what caused this change and how he can fix it.
At first blush, it may appear that Edward's problem is related to file associations in Windows. (Fixing file association errors has been covered in other ExcelTips, albeit for a much earlier version of Excel.) While this is possible, it is not the likely culprit, as problems related to file associations generally produce a different error message.
It appears that Edward's specific problem isn't that uncommon. Microsoft has suggested that the problem can be corrected through one of seven methods:
Rather than reinvent the wheel here, you can see what Microsoft suggests in order to implement each of these possible solutions by visiting this Knowledge Base page:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3001579
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (5649) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.
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