phpexcel to download

Instead of saving it to a file, save it to php://output^­Docs:

$objWriter->save('php://output');

This will send it AS-IS to the browser.

You want to add some headers^­Docs first, like it's common with file downloads, so the browser knows which type that file is and how it should be named (the filename):

// We'll be outputting an excel file
header('Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel');

// It will be called file.xls
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="file.xls"');

// Write file to the browser
$objWriter->save('php://output');

First do the headers, then the save. For the excel headers see as well the following question: Setting mime type for excel document.

$excel = new PHPExcel();
header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="your_name.xls"');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');

// Do your stuff here

$writer = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($excel, 'Excel5');

// This line will force the file to download
$writer->save('php://output');

FOR XLSX USE

SET IN $xlsName name from XLSX with extension. Example: $xlsName = 'teste.xlsx';

$objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();

$objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel2007');
header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="'.$xlsName.'"');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');
$objWriter->save('php://output');

FOR XLS USE

SET IN $xlsName name from XLS with extension. Example: $xlsName = 'teste.xls';

$objPHPExcel = new PHPExcel();

$objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel5');
header('Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="'.$xlsName.'"');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');
$objWriter->save('php://output');

Use this call

$objWriter->save('php://output');

To output the XLS sheet to the page you are on, just make sure that the page you are on has no other echo's,print's, outputs.

 header('Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel');

 header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="file.xlsx"');

 header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');

 header ('Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT');

 header ('Last-Modified: '.gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s').' GMT');

 header ('Cache-Control: cache, must-revalidate');

 header ('Pragma: public');

 $objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel5');

 $objWriter->save('php://output');