Need help to fix msword old assosiation...

[ggolub]

Hello folks,

I am having a problem when I click msword doc. I get message: 'There was a problem sending the command to program'.
Then it opens empty MS Word 12, not document itself.
When I check the association of the doc file, it shows: "c:\program files (x86)\microsoft office\office12\winword.exe" /n /dde

Can you please help to fix it.

 

[davehc]

tI would say the /n /dde are there by accident.
The quickest way to fix this would be to right clcik the doc file amd seelct "open with". Make sure you have the small square bottom left ticked (Always use...) Word will, probably be already visible as a choice. If not browse to the winword.exe (The path in your post) and select it.

 

[ggolub]

when I tried to do that, i would still get ... winword /n /dde.
I even tried to assign notepad to this extension and assign it back - still the same result.

 

[Elmer BeFuddled]

Is this worth a try?:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE" /n "%1"

 

[ggolub]

I would be happy to try but I do not know how to control options on assosiation. All I can do is to point to the winword.exe while choosing program to open file.
I even uninstalled office and installed it back. It is the same behavior. Documents which were just created or from previous versions do not open.
Any recommendations?

 

[davehc]

I,m lost!
the "dde" is not a normal part of a doc associate, it is often in an excel or Dbase doc though.
But, to try and offer another idea, what exactly is Msword doc (is the omission of the dot a typo?).

 

[TrainableMan]

I'm guessing when you say "MSWORD DOC" you mean a Microsoft Word document. And since it says MS Word 12 you must have Microsoft Word 2007 installed.

Is it all your documents of this file extension or only some? Also, did you create this/these file(s) yourself? On this machine and this OS?

There are many file extensions actually supported by Word, and all of these associations are stored in the registry. Is the file you are opening truly a ".doc" file or some other file extension? If you hide file extensions by default then you may need to uncheck this; Open Windows explorer ... Organize ... Folder and Search options ... View tab ... uncheck Hide extensions for known file types.

Do other Word file types work correctly ".docx" etc?

One possibility that comes to mind is a registry error. Have you made any changes to the registry lately? Run any registry cleaners that remove old file associations? When did you first notice this problem? It may be possible to find a Restore Point prior to the problem and restore your system.

DDE or Dynamic Data Exchange is simply a way to pass information. I used to think of it as drag & drop because it allowed you to drop a file on the application and the application would be passed the file name as a parameter. I do not believe this is your issue. I have Office 2007 installed here and I have /dde options associated with Word although not for the ".doc" association.