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PhpSpreadsheet is installed via Composer, the dependency manager for PHP.

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Install via Composer

1

Install Composer

If you don’t have Composer installed, download it from getcomposer.org.
2

Add PhpSpreadsheet to your project

Run the following command in your project directory:
composer require phpoffice/phpspreadsheet
3

Include the autoloader

In your PHP files, include Composer’s autoloader:
<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;

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System requirements

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PHP version

PhpSpreadsheet requires PHP 8.1 or higher.
Support for PHP versions is maintained for six months beyond their official end of life. The current minimum version (8.1) will be supported until June 30, 2026.

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Required PHP extensions

The following PHP extensions are required for PhpSpreadsheet to function:
  • ext-ctype - Character type checking
  • ext-dom - DOM document manipulation
  • ext-fileinfo - File information
  • ext-filter - Data filtering
  • ext-gd - Image processing
  • ext-iconv - Character encoding conversion
  • ext-libxml - XML library
  • ext-mbstring - Multibyte string handling
  • ext-simplexml - Simple XML parsing
  • ext-xml - XML parsing
  • ext-xmlreader - XML reader
  • ext-xmlwriter - XML writer
  • ext-zip - ZIP archive handling
  • ext-zlib - Compression
If any required extension is missing, Composer will fail during installation. Install the missing extensions through your system’s package manager or PHP configuration.

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Composer dependencies

PhpSpreadsheet automatically installs the following required packages:
  • maennchen/zipstream-php (^2.1 || ^3.0) - Streaming ZIP archives
  • markbaker/complex (^3.0) - Complex number calculations
  • markbaker/matrix (^3.0) - Matrix calculations
  • psr/simple-cache (^1.0 || ^2.0 || ^3.0) - Caching interface

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Optional dependencies

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PDF export libraries

To export spreadsheets to PDF format, install one of these libraries: 
composer require mpdf/mpdf
Then use the PDF writer: 
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Pdf\Mpdf;
// or
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Pdf\Dompdf;
// or
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Pdf\Tcpdf;

$writer = new Mpdf($spreadsheet);
$writer->save('output.pdf');

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Chart rendering

To render charts or include charts with PDF/HTML writers: 
composer require mitoteam/jpgraph

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Internationalization

For number format wizards and locale support: 
# ext-intl is typically available via your system package manager
# Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get install php-intl
# macOS: built into PHP
# Windows: enable in php.ini

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Verifying installation

Create a test file to verify your installation:
test.php
<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Xlsx;

echo "PhpSpreadsheet is installed!\n";
echo "Creating a test spreadsheet...\n";

$spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();
$sheet = $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet();
$sheet->setCellValue('A1', 'Hello PhpSpreadsheet!');

$writer = new Xlsx($spreadsheet);
$writer->save('test.xlsx');

echo "Success! Check test.xlsx\n";
Run the test: 
php test.php
If you see “Success! Check test.xlsx” and the file is created, your installation is working correctly.

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Troubleshooting

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Missing extensions

If Composer reports missing extensions: 
sudo apt-get install php-xml php-mbstring php-gd php-zip
Most extensions are included with PHP. For missing ones:
brew install php
Edit your php.ini file and uncomment (remove ; from) the required extensions:
extension=gd
extension=mbstring
extension=zip
extension=xml

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Memory limits

For large spreadsheets, you may need to increase PHP’s memory limit: 
ini_set('memory_limit', '512M');
Or in your php.ini: 
memory_limit = 512M

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Next steps

Quick start

Now that you’ve installed PhpSpreadsheet, learn how to create your first spreadsheet

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