Excel: How to troubleshoot "An error occurred when sending commands ... https://support.microsoft.

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In Microsoft Excel, one of the following conditions is true:

The Excel workbook tries to access data from another application that is still active.

Too many Excel add-ins have been added to the program, or one of the add-ins is corrupted.

You take one of the following actions:

Activate a button that is created by a third-party add-in or application

Try to open an embedded object

Save or open a file

Try to use the Send as Attachment option

Call another application from the Excel workbook

In this scenario, you receive the following error message:

An error occurred when sending commands to the program

This error indicates that some process that is running inside Excel will not let Excel close. There are many possible
reasons that this error occurs. You must understand your environment to determine which of the methods in the
"Resolution" section will work best for you.

To resolve this problem, try the following methods, as appropriate, in the given order.

Method 1: Ignore DDE

This problem may occur if the Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) check box in
Excel options is selected.

When you double-click an Excel workbook in Windows Explorer, a dynamic data exchange (DDE) message is sent to
Excel. This message instructs Excel to open the workbook that you double-clicked.

If you select the "Ignore" option, Excel ignores DDE messages that are sent to it by other programs. Therefore, the

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DDE message that is sent to Excel by Windows Explorer is ignored, and Excel does not open the workbook that you
double-clicked.

To correct this setting, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.

2. Click the General tab.

3. Clear the Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) check box, and then click OK.

Note For more information about how to turn off DDE, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

211494 "There was a problem sending the command to the program" error in Excel
If these steps do not resolve the problem, go to Method 2.

Method 2: Repair User Experience Virtualization (UE-V)

If you are running Update User Experience Virtualization (UE-V), install hotfix 2927019. To do this, see the following
Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

2927019 Hotfix Package 1 for Microsoft User Experience Virtualization 2.0

If you are not sure whether you are running UE-V, examine the program list in the Programs and Features item in
Control Panel. An entry for Company Settings Center indicates that you are running UE-V.

If these steps do not resolve the problem, go to Method 3.

Method 3: Reset file associations

To check whether the file associations in the system are performing correctly, reset the Excel file associations to
their default settings. To do this, follow the steps for your operating system.

Windows 8
1. On the Start screen, type Control Panel.

2. Click or tap Control Panel.

3. Click Default Programs, and then click Set your default programs.

4. Click Excel, and then click Choose default for this program.

5. On the Set Program Associations screen, click Select All, and then click Save.

Windows 7
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Default Programs.

3. Click Associate a file type or protocol with a specific program.

4. Select Microsoft Excel Worksheet, and then click change program.

5. Under Recommended Programs, click Microsoft Excel.

6. If Excel does not appear in this list, click Browse, locate the Excel installation folder, click Excel.exe, and then
click Excel.

If these steps do not resolve the problem, go to Method 4.

Method 4: Repair Office

Try to repair your Office programs. To do this, follow the steps for your installation type and operating system.

For an Office 365 Click-to-Run installation

Windows 8
1. On the Start screen, type Control Panel.

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2. Click or tap Control Panel.

3. Under Programs, click or tap Uninstall a program.

4. Click or tap Microsoft Office 365, and then click or tap Change.

5. Click or tap Online Repair, and then click or tap Repair. You may have to restart your computer after the
repair process is finished.

Windows 7
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2. Double-click Programs and Features.

3. Click Microsoft Office 365, and then click Change.

4. Select Online Repair, and then click Repair.

Note You may have to restart your computer after the repair process is complete.

For an Office 2013, Office 2010, or Office 2007 installation

To repair Office 2013, Office 2010, or Office 2007, follow the steps in the following Office website topic:

Repair Office programs

If these steps do not resolve the problem, go to Method 5.

Method 5: Turn off add-ins

Excel and COM add-in programs can also cause this problem. These two kinds of add-ins are located in different
folders. For testing, disable and isolate the conflict by turning off each add-in one at a time. To do this, follow these
steps:
1. On the File menu, click Options, and then click Add-Ins.

2. In the Manage list at the bottom of the screen, select COM Add-Ins item, and then click Go.

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

4. Restart Excel by double-clicking the icon or file name for the workbook that you are trying to open.

5. If the problem persists, repeat steps 1-4, except select a different add-in in step 3.

6. If the problem persists after you clear all the COM Add-ins, repeat steps 1-4, except select Excel Add-Ins in
step 2, and then try each of the Excel add-ins one at a time in step 3.

If Excel loads the file, the add-in you last turned off is causing the problem. If this is the case, we recommend that
you visit the manufacturer's website for the add-in to learn whether an updated version of the add-in is available. If
a newer version of the add-in is not available, or if you dont have to use the add-in, you can leave it turned off.

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If Excel does not open the file after you turn off all the add-ins, the problem has a different cause.

If these steps do not resolve the problem, go to Method 6.

Method 6: Disable hardware acceleration

To work around this problem, disable hardware acceleration until a fix is released by your video card manufacturer.
Make sure to check regularly for updates to your video card driver.

To disable hardware acceleration, follow these steps:

1. Start any Office 2013 program.

2. On the File tab, click Options.

3. In the Options dialog box, click Advanced.

4. In the list of available options, select the Disable hardware graphics acceleration check box.

The following screen shot shows this option in Excel.

5. Click OK.

Note For more information about hardware acceleration, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

2768648 Performance and display issues in Office 2013 client applications

If these steps do not resolve the problem, go to Method 6.

Method 7: Verify or install the latest updates

You may have to set Windows Update to automatically download and install recommended updates. Installing any
important, recommended, and optional updates can frequently correct problems by replacing out-of-date files and
fixing vulnerabilities.

For more information about Office updates, click the following article number to go to the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

Office Updates
If you still experience this problem after you try all these methods, contact Microsoft Support for additional
troubleshooting help.

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For more information about this problem and for additional troubleshooting steps, see the following Microsoft
Knowledge Base articles:

2616247 Why does "An error occurred when sending commands to the program" appear when opening Excel
2010 files? (Easy Fix Article)

2994633 Excel: How to Troubleshoot Excel opening blank when you double-click a file icon or file name

Article ID: 3001579 - Last Review: 06/05/2015 18:03:00 - Revision: 3.0

Applies to
Microsoft Excel 2013, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft Office Excel 2007

Keywords:
kbsurveynew kbprb kbexpertiseinter KB3001579

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