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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-12T23:42:14+00:00

I have a survey site that collects data from user inputs and stores it

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I have a survey site that collects data from user inputs and stores it in MySQL.

I want some users to be able to go to a page that allows them to download a formatted excel file of the data (note, not a csv).

I’ve heard ODBC allows you to interface excel with MySQL, but can’t find any server side applications for it.

Is it possible?

I’m using PHP for the site.

Thanks

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Exporting a database to an excel file should not be difficult since excel can read xhtml.

    Just output your information as a regular HTML table

    <table>
<tr>
<td>title</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>record1</td>
</tr>
</table>

    and then add these headers to force automatic download and interpretation as an excel file:

    header ("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT");
header ("Last-Modified: " . gmdate("D,d M YH:i:s") . " GMT");
header ("Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate");
header ("Pragma: no-cache");
header ("Content-type: application/x-msexcel");
header ("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"{$yourFileName}\"" );
header ("Content-Description: PHP Generated Data" );

    It should work as intended.

    EDIT:
    Here’s an example of a table to xls with correct XHTML schema:

    <?php
header ("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT");
header ("Last-Modified: " . gmdate("D,d M YH:i:s") . " GMT");
header ("Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate");
header ("Pragma: no-cache");
header ("Content-type: application/x-msexcel");
header ("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=newtest.xls" );
header ("Content-Description: PHP Generated Data" );
?>
<html xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta name="Excel Workbook">
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name=ProgId content=Excel.Sheet>
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Excel 14">
<style>
#test
{
    font-style:italic;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table>
    <tr>
        <td><b>header in bold</b></td>
        <td><i>header in italic</i></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>1</td>
        <td><span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic">my data with css styling</span></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>2</td>
        <td><span id="test">I'm italic 'cause I can read style</span></td>
    </tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
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