The primary cause of this problem is that a dialog box associated with Microsoft Word is open. It might not be visible upfront if many windows are open on your computer.

Q: Here’s my problem. Whenever I open a Word document, I get this message: “The command cannot be performed because a dialog box is open. Click OK, then close open dialog boxes to continue ...

Patrick Marshall answers your tech questions. This week's topics cover an open dialogue box in Microsoft Word, the best replacement for Word 2007, a secure site for sharing family photos, ...