xlswrite fails to import "matlab.io​.internal.​utility.co​nvertStrin​gsToChars" after update to R2017a

I just updated to MATLAB release R2017a and now xlswrite has stopped working, producing the following error message:

Error: File: xlswrite.m Line: 84 Column: 8 Arguments to IMPORT must either end with ".*" or else specify a fully qualified class name: "matlab.io.internal.utility.convertStringsToChars" fails this test.

Why is this and how to fix it? Could the failure result from the uninstallation of old releases after the update?

[Elias Pentti]

I have found out that my problem is not limited to xlswrite, but for example pathtool, Add-Ons Manager or even the Open icon of a figure window don't work either. Reinstallation of R2017a did not solve the problem.

[Elias Pentti]

The problem seems to have been in the search path. After commanding "restoredefaultpath" and then "savepath" all missing functions and packages started working.

[Manuel Lera Ramirez]

Thank you for the follow up Ellias, I had the same problem and this solved it for me

[Paul Safier]

Thanks! This simple solution worked for me as well.