Main Content

Start and Stop Spreadsheet Link and MATLAB

Start Spreadsheet Link and MATLAB Automatically

When installed and configured according to the instructions in Add-In Setup, the Spreadsheet Link™ and MATLAB® software automatically start when you start a Microsoft® Excel® session.

Start Spreadsheet Link and MATLAB Manually

  1. Select Tools > Macro.

    • In Excel 2007, click the View or Developer tab, and then click the Macros button.

    • In Excel 2010, click the View menu and select Macros on the Excel toolstrip, and then click View Macros.

  2. Enter matlabinit into the Macro Name/Reference field.

  3. Click Run. The MATLAB Command Window button appears on the Microsoft Windows® taskbar.

Connect to an Already Running MATLAB Session

By default, Spreadsheet Link starts a new MATLAB session. Alternatively, it can connect to an already running MATLAB session.

Note

If several versions of MATLAB are installed on your computer, Spreadsheet Link always uses the last registered version. If you try to connect to an already running MATLAB session that is not the last registered version, Spreadsheet Link starts a new MATLAB session. Spreadsheet Link does not connect to the existing one. To change the last registered version, see Startup Errors.

To connect a new Excel session to an already running MATLAB session:

  1. In MATLAB, enter the following command:

    enableservice('AutomationServer',true)

    This command converts a running MATLAB session into an Automation server.

  2. Start a new Excel session. It automatically connects to the running MATLAB session.

Alternatively, you can start MATLAB as an automation server from the beginning. To start MATLAB as an automation server, use the automation command-line option:

matlab -automation

This command does not start MATLAB in a full desktop mode. To do so, use the -desktop option:

matlab -automation -desktop

If you always use MATLAB as an automation server, modify the shortcut that you use to start MATLAB:

  1. Right-click your MATLAB shortcut icon. (You can use the icon on your desktop or in the Windows Start menu.)

  2. Select Properties.

  3. Click the Shortcut tab.

  4. Add -automation in the Target field. Remember to leave a space between matlab.exe and -automation.

  5. Click OK.

For details, see Manually Create Automation Server.

Specify the MATLAB Startup Folder

MATLAB starts in the MATLAB root folder and completes the initialization. After starting, MATLAB changes to the Spreadsheet Link MATLAB startup folder. For details about specifying the startup folder, see MLStartDir.

Stop Spreadsheet Link and MATLAB

If you started the Spreadsheet Link and MATLAB software from the Excel interface:

  • To stop both the Spreadsheet Link and MATLAB software, close the Excel session as you normally would.

  • To stop the Spreadsheet Link and MATLAB software and leave the Excel session running, enter the =MLClose() command into an Excel worksheet cell. You can use the MLOpen or matlabinit function to restart the Spreadsheet Link and MATLAB sessions manually.

If you connected an Excel session to an existing MATLAB session, close Excel and MATLAB sessions separately. Closing one session does not automatically close the other.