I need to close excel file before importing data
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I recently started using MATLAB R2023a.
When I use functions such as xlsread or readtable to read data from an excel file, the file must be closed before calling function.
Previously, when I was using MATLAB R2019 or older versions, this was not the case.
Can this issue be fixed?
3 Comments
Jon
on 12 Oct 2023
Edited: Jon
on 12 Oct 2023
I am using R2023b on a Windows machine.
For me this behavior seems to depend upon the location of the Excel file. When I have the current MATLAB directory and the .xlsx file both in, for example, in C:\TEMP\Matlab then I can use readtable successfully whether the .xlsx file is open or not. When I put exactly the same .xlsx file in my One Drive folder, I can use readtable when the file is closed but if it is open then I get the error :
Error using readtable
Unable to open file 'C:\Users\jxxx.xxx\OneDrive - xxxx\myfile.xlsx'
as a workbook. Check that the file exists, read access is available, and the file is a
valid spreadsheet file.
When I look at the permissions for the file in the One Drive folder they seem to be the same as when it is in the C:\Temp\Matlab location, but somehow there must be some difference.
I would also like to know if there is a solution for this, as it can be annoying if I just want to read the file and I forget to close it. At the least, it would be nice if I could get it to throw an error that indicated that the problem was that the file was open, rather than the more obscure error that it now reports
Answers (2)
Cris LaPierre
on 12 Oct 2023
Suggestions and suspected bugs can be reported here: https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html
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Jon
on 13 Oct 2023
I looked a little more on MATLAB answers and saw that this issue was previously described, and is a known issue for the Mathworks developers. Please see https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/514294-why-does-readtable-fail-to-read-a-file-from-onedrive?s_tid=answers_rc1-2_p2_MLTfor more info.
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