This bug has been fixed in Release 14 Service Pack 3 (R14SP3). For previous product releases, read below for any possible workarounds:
The following provides an example of opening an existing Excel file named example.xls and proceeding to write and read with it:
% Specify file name
file = 'D:\Applications\MATLAB701\work\example.xls'; % This must be full path name
% Open Excel Automation server
Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
Workbooks = Excel.Workbooks;
% Make Excel visible
Excel.Visible=1;
% Open Excel file
Workbook=Workbooks.Open(file);
% Specify sheet number, data, and range to write to
sheetnum=1;
data=rand(4); % use a cell array if you want both numeric and text data
range = 'F10:I13';
% Make the first sheet active
Sheets = Excel.ActiveWorkBook.Sheets;
sheet1 = get(Sheets, 'Item', sheetnum);
invoke(sheet1, 'Activate');
Activesheet = Excel.Activesheet;
% Put MATLAB data into Excel
ActivesheetRange = get(Activesheet,'Range',range);
set(ActivesheetRange, 'Value', data);
% Here you might manipulate the data in Excel
% Now read the data from the sheet; you could specify a new range here
Range = get(Activesheet,'Range',range);
out = Range.value;
% Save file
invoke(Workbook,'Save')
% Close Excel and clean up
invoke(Excel,'Quit');
delete(Excel);
clear Excel;
