Import and Export Excel, CSV, & ODSOpen Files via Free PHP Library 

Getting Started with Fast-Excel

The recommended way to install Fast-Excel into your project is by using the composer. Please use the following command for a smooth installation

 composer require rap2hpoutre/fast-excel

Export Collections to Excel Files via PHP

Fast-Excel makes exporting collections or models to Excel incredibly simple. With just a few lines of code, you can generate .xlsx, .csv, or .ods files. This feature eliminates boilerplate code and speeds up development, especially for dashboards or reporting systems. The following example demonstrates how to Export data into MS Excel XLSX file using PHP code. The library converts a Laravel collection directly into an Excel file without requiring complex configurations.

use Rap2hpoutre\FastExcel\FastExcel;
// Sample data
$list = collect([
    ['id' => 1, 'name' => 'Jane'],
    ['id' => 2, 'name' => 'John'],
]);
// Export to Excel
(new FastExcel($list))->export('users.xlsx');

Memory-Efficient Chunked Exports Using Generators

The open source Fast-Excel library has included support for low memory usage, and simple syntax for importing or exporting data. This is the flagship feature for handling "big data". Instead of loading 1 million users into an array, you use Laravel’s cursor() or a custom yield generator. The exporter processes each row one by one, writes it to the file, and discards it from memory. This keeps your memory usage constant (very low) regardless of whether you are exporting 100 rows or 10 million rows.

return (new FastExcel(User::all()))->export('formatted_users.xlsx', function ($user) {
    return [
        'Full Name' => $user->firstname . ' ' . $user->lastname,
        'Email Address' => $user->email,
        'Member Since' => $user->created_at->format('Y-m-d'),
        'Status' => $user->is_active ? 'Active' : 'Suspended'
    ];
});

Import Data Directly into Database

Instead of importing rows manually, Fast-Excel can process each row and directly insert it into your database. This is ideal for admin bulk uploads and has great benefits such as bulk database insertion, cleaner code, less manual processing, easy admin workflows and so on. This is particularly useful for HR systems, CRMs, and eCommerce platforms. Here is a useful example that shows how to import data into a database inside PHP applications.

use Rap2hpoutre\FastExcel\FastExcel;
use App\Models\User;

(new FastExcel)->import('users.xlsx', function ($line) {
    return User::create([
        'name' => $line['Name'],
        'email' => $line['Email'],
    ]);
});

Custom Column Mapping & Formatting via PHP

Database columns aren't always human-readable. The Fast-Excel library has included complete support for custom column or row mapping and formatting. This feature allows you to define exactly which attributes to export and reformat their values on the fly. Whether you need to uppercase a last name, combine first and last names, or rename ‘user_id’ to ‘Employee Identifier’, the closure gives you full control over the final output array.