Why does uigetfile not open Excel files?

Hi all,

I am using the following code to open and read data tables:

[FileName, PathName, FilterIndex] = uigetfile({'*.txt';'*.csv';'*.xls';'*.xlsx'},'File Selector');
T=readtable(strcat(PathName,FileName));

I have no issue opening .txt files, but I cannot select .xlsx files even after chosing this option via the file type selector (and even after choosing all file types!). What might cause this issue?

Edit: I selected the correct extension from the dropdown menu and it is still not possible to select Excel files. See below

Edit 2: I set the permissions to 'read and write' already, no change

[Jan]

You cannot select any file in this folder, because all are greyed out. Is the folder located in the "Creative Cloud" or in another external drive?

[Jesse Walters]

It will not open any excel file in ANY folder

[Jan]

By the way, prefer fullfile instead of strcat to concatenate parts of a path.

Please try:

cd('~')
[f, p] = uigetfile('*.*', 'File Selector')

When did this start? What has happend before?

Does this help: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7532389

Answer 1

[Gagan Agarwal]

Hi Jesse Walters,

I reproduced the issue you described using MATLAB R2023a on Mac OS and encountered the same. It appears that this problem is specific to the operating system rather than MATLAB itself, as the code worked correctly on Windows OS.

However, there is a workaround to open Excel using the 'uigetfile' function. You can refer to the following code snippet as an alternative method to open Excel using the 'uigetfile' function:

% uigetfile function is used to open a file dialog box, allowing the user to select a file. 
[file,path] = uigetfile('*'); 
% fval is the variable in which the file is loaded. 
[~,~,fval]=fileparts(file); 

For more information you can refer to the following documentation link:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/uigetfile.html

I hope this workaround proves helpful to you!