Cannot open variables from workspace in 2025a/b

I cannot seem to open variables in the variable viewer in 2025a or 2025b. The behavior is very inconsistent. For some variables, I can initially open them from the workspace by double clicking. A few minutes into my session, I will be unable to open the variables by double clicking. Sometimes when doing this, it will open a variable viewer window and not show anything (either it seems to be stuck on loading the actual content of the variable, or it appears to think it loaded the content without displaying anything). Other times, double clicking a variable does absolutely nothing. It does not work if I right click -> open selection either. When this happens, I CAN see the content of the variables if the variable is accessed through the command window, but this is not the most convenient method for exploring large structs, etc. I've tried reinstalling, regenerating my preferences folder, etc. These did not help. This is super frustrating and makes all 2025 versions largely useless for me.

[Stephen23]

What OS are you using?

File a bug report here: https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html

[Samantha Michalka]

Having the same issue on Mac OS - just updated to Tahoe. M1 chip.

[Adam]

I'm having a similar issue. A few minutes into a MATLAB session, I become unable to open a variable. For me, it's specifically a MATLAB table - arrays seem to work fine.

MacOS Tahoe 26.0.1, 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max chip. MATLAB 2025b.

[Will Snyder]

Hi, I am having the same problem right now as well. Cannot open any tables to view the variable, but I can print the whole table to the command window area.

MacOS Tahoe, M1 Max chip, Matlab 2025b

[xingxingcui]

R2025a was a major update and currently has many bugs. R2025b is said to be a stability-focused release with no new features; I haven't tried it either. Do you recommend using R2026a or an earlier older version?

[半瓶君乐宝]

我也遇到了同样的问题

I encountered the same problem.

[ANDREA]

I found a little workaround: whenever you wanna open a variable, long press it and drag it somewhere else. It should open that variable.

[Richard]

I am having the same issue, with a couple of other observations. 1) I have the problem only with variables with greater than one element (vectors, matrices). I can open single-element variables. 2) Right clicking on the non-opening variable and selecting "open selection" does not work. Exiting Matlab and starting again seems to fix the problem. At least for the time being.

[Ludovico]

same here - honestly if there was ONE feature in all of Matlab that had to be protected from ever breaking was this one...

[Stephen23]

@Ludovico: this is just a forum of volunteers. You can give feedback to TMW here:

https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html

[逸文]

I got the same issue. I shouldn't install 2025 just because of my curiosity.

Answer 1

[James Owen]

There may be 2 separate issues that Gary is experiencing:

1. Issues with double click or right click-> open selection sometimes not opening a variable may be the following known issue: If a variable is opened in the Variable Editor and then subsequently closed, the variable with that name cannot then be re-opened in the Variable Editor. Our development team is actively qualifying a fix for this issue now. In the meantime you can work around the issue by copying the content of the variable to a new variable name and then opening that new variable in the Variable Editor. Please check back or set an alert on this post to be made aware of when the fix is available.
2. The issue with opening a Variable Editor window which appears stuck or loading. This can happen for some objects which open in a special viewer outside the Variable Editor (e.g. Simulink.Bus). I’m not sure if this applies to Gary’s situation, but if so then the Variable Editor may show a loading spinner in the desktop even though the special object viewer is successfully displayed in a separate window. Our development team are actively qualifying a fix for this issue now as well. If this case applies, the best workaround is just to close the invalid Variable Editor document with the loading spinner

[Darcy]

I am having the exact same issue as Gary.

Regarding your Option #1, if I try to rename the variable, the same thing happens.

Regarding Option #2, I am not using any special viewer. No SimuLink installed.

The variable opens in variable window with two separate tabs. One shows a spinning wheel as if the variable is loading (see attached). But neither tab actually displays the variable. If I close either tab, it does not change anything or display the variable. This has happened from time to time (seemingly randomly, cannot diagnose or assess when it will happen). The only solution I have is to restart MATLAB. I am running MATLAB 2025a on Mac Sequoia 15.6.

[Md Abdul]

Has this issue been solved? I am having the same issue in Matlab 2025b on Win 11.

[Cris LaPierre]

Regardless, if you are having an issue, please report it to MathWorks here.

I do not see this issue in my R2025b on Win 11, which is exactly why they'd want to hear from you.

[Mike]

I'm seeing this on 2025b on W11. I'm a new user and I thought I'd broken/corrupted the GUI. Tried a prefs reset, which obviously worked until I deleted the variable tab again. Thanks for the info - that's a workaraound, but this problem is still quite annoying...any update on when it is to be fixed?

Answer 2

[Cris LaPierre]

Please report any product usage issues directly to MathWorks here.