Question

I have a generated xls file on my server that I would like to push to the client for download but can’t seem to get it working. Here is what I have so far:

$xlsFile = 'test.xls';

header("Content-Type: application/force-download");
header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Type: application/download");;
header("Content-Disposition: attachment;filename=$xlsFile"); 
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary ");  
exit();

My excel file is correct and can be opened if I open it from the server but how can I push this file to the client for download?

Answer 1

You seem to be overdoing it with your “Content-type” headers. Oh, and you need to actually send the file before exit()ing. All you need is

header("Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $xlsFile . '"');
readfile($xlsFile);
exit();