diff --git a/matlab/load_xls_file_data.m b/matlab/load_xls_file_data.m
index a45e1cfc3..0dd11000f 100644
--- a/matlab/load_xls_file_data.m
+++ b/matlab/load_xls_file_data.m
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ if ~(check_file_extension(file,'xls') || check_file_extension(file,'xlsx'))
 end
 
 % load excel file.
+if isoctave && ~user_has_octave_forge_package('io')
+    error('The io package is required to read XLS/XLSX files from Octave')
+end
 [num,txt,raw] = xlsread(file, sheet, range);
 
 % Get dimensions of num, txt and raw