MATLAB R2020a on macOS is unable to select/open data files

I am using MATLAB R2020a on macOS and when I try to select txt/dat data files to analyse it, MATLAB is unable to select dat/txt files (black region). See attached screenshot. I click on particular file but it does not select and I can not open it. See red marked region, "open" option in mac is also not working unlike "cancel"

Mac details: macOS catalina, version 10.15.5

[Steinar Bråten]

I have the same problem on a Mac Mini M1!

And therefor no alternative Matlab version either!

[Yongru Wang]

how to solve it?

Answer 1

[Satwik]

Hi Aditya,

I encountered a similar issue when trying to access non-MATLAB files on macOS using MATLAB. Although I am not entirely sure of the cause, here are two workarounds that might help:

1. Use the ‘uigetfile’ function with a wildcard input. This will display all file types, and they will all be selectable:

>> uigetfile('*.*');

2. When saving your data file, append ‘.m’ to the end of the filename (e.g., fileName.txt.m). This makes it selectable in the file dialog, and MATLAB should be able to process it as usual.

Hope this helps!