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You're reading the docs for Laravel Excel 3.1. The current version is Laravel Excel 4.x (upgrade guide).

Exporting collections ​

The easiest way to start an export is to create a custom export class. We'll use an invoices export as example.

Create a new class called InvoicesExport in app/Exports:

php
namespace App\Exports;

use App\Invoice;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromCollection;

class InvoicesExport implements FromCollection
{
    public function collection()
    {
        return Invoice::all();
    }
}

In your controller we can now download this export:

php
public function export() 
{
    return Excel::download(new InvoicesExport, 'invoices.xlsx');
}

Optionally you can pass in whether or not to output headers and custom response headers:

php
public function export() 
{
    return Excel::download(new InvoicesExport, 'invoices.xlsx', true, ['X-Vapor-Base64-Encode' => 'True']);
}

Or store it on a disk, (e.g. s3):

php
public function storeExcel() 
{
    return Excel::store(new InvoicesExport, 'invoices.xlsx', 's3');
}

💡 More about storing exports can be found in the storing exports on disk page.

TIP

If you want to use relationships in Collection, combine with Mapping Data

Using custom structures ​

If you are not using Eloquent or having another datasource (e.g. an API, MongoDB, Cache, ...) you can also return a custom collection:

php
namespace App\Exports;

use App\Invoice;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromCollection;

class InvoicesExport implements FromCollection
{
    public function collection()
    {
        return new Collection([
            [1, 2, 3],
            [4, 5, 6]
        ]);
    }
}

Using arrays ​

If you prefer to use plain arrays over Collections, you can use the FromArray concern:

php
namespace App\Exports;

use App\Invoice;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromArray;

class InvoicesExport implements FromArray
{
    public function array(): array
    {
        return [
            [1, 2, 3],
            [4, 5, 6]
        ];
    }
}

If you need to pass data from the controller to your export, you can use the constructor to do so:

php
namespace App\Exports;

use App\Invoice;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromArray;

class InvoicesExport implements FromArray
{
    protected $invoices;

    public function __construct(array $invoices)
    {
        $this->invoices = $invoices;
    }

    public function array(): array
    {
        return $this->invoices;
    }
}

In your controller you can now use the constructor of the export class:

php
public function export() 
{
    $export = new InvoicesExport([
        [1, 2, 3],
        [4, 5, 6]
    ]);

    return Excel::download($export, 'invoices.xlsx');
}

Dependency injection ​

In case your export needs dependencies, you can inject the export class:

php
namespace App\Exports;

use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromCollection;

class InvoicesExport implements FromCollection
{
    protected $invoices;

    public function __construct(InvoicesRepository $invoices)
    {
        $this->invoices = $invoices;
    }

    public function collection()
    {
        return $this->invoices->all();
    }
}
php
public function export(Excel $excel, InvoicesExport $export) 
{
    return $excel->download($export, 'invoices.xlsx');
}

Strict null comparisons ​

If you want your 0 values to be actual 0 values in your Excel sheet instead of null (empty cells), you can use WithStrictNullComparison.

php
namespace App\Exports;

use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromCollection;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithStrictNullComparison;

class InvoicesExport implements FromCollection, WithStrictNullComparison
{
    public function __construct(InvoicesRepository $invoices)
    {
        $this->invoices = $invoices;
    }

    public function collection()
    {
        return $this->invoices->all();
    }
}

Custom start cell ​

The default start cell is A1. Implementing the WithCustomStartCell concern in your export class allows you to specify a custom start cell.

php
namespace App\Exports;

use App\Invoice;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromCollection;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithCustomStartCell;

class InvoicesExport implements FromCollection, WithCustomStartCell
{
    public function collection()
    {
        return Invoice::all();
    }

    public function startCell(): string
    {
        return 'B2';
    }
}

WARNING

WithCustomStartCell is only supported for FromCollection exports.

Storing raw contents ​

If you want to receive the raw contents of the exported file, you can use the raw() method:

php
$contents = Excel::raw(new InvoicesExport, \Maatwebsite\Excel\Excel::XLSX);

Collection macros ​

The package provides some macro to Laravel's collection class to easily download or store a collection.

Downloading a collection as Excel ​

php
User::all()->downloadExcel(
    $filePath,
    $writerType = null,
    $headings = false
)

It doesn't have to be an Eloquent collection to work:

php
(new Collection([[1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3]]))->downloadExcel(
    $filePath,
    $writerType = null,
    $headings = false
)

Storing a collection on disk ​

php
User::all()->storeExcel(
    $filePath,
    $disk = null,
    $writerType = null,
    $headings = false
)