Fast Excel 5.x: Streaming Imports & Safer Exports | Mohamed Said [ ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MH.png) Mohamed Said Laravel Backend Engineer ](https://msaied.com) [ Home ](https://msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://msaied.com#contact-section) [ ](https://github.com/EG-Mohamed) [ Home ](https://msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://msaied.com#contact-section) [ home ](https://msaied.com) [ articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) Fast Excel 5.x Adds Streaming Imports and Safer Exports for Laravel On this page 1. [ Fast Excel 5.x: Streaming Imports and Safer Exports ](#fast-excel-5x-streaming-imports-and-safer-exports) 2. [ Lazy Imports for Large Files ](#lazy-imports-for-large-files) 3. [ Chunked Imports with Stable Headings ](#chunked-imports-with-stable-headings) 4. [ Selecting Sheets and Columns ](#selecting-sheets-and-columns) 5. [ Escaping Spreadsheet Formulas ](#escaping-spreadsheet-formulas) 6. [ Compatibility and Installation ](#compatibility-and-installation) 7. [ Key Takeaways ](#key-takeaways) ![Fast Excel 5.x Adds Streaming Imports and Safer Exports for Laravel](https://cdn.msaied.com/691/336355c7690e72d026fa4cc54943c82b.png) [ Laravel ](https://msaied.com/articles?category=laravel) [ Composer Pacakge ](https://msaied.com/articles?category=composer-pacakge) #Laravel #Fast Excel #Excel Import #OpenSpout #PHP Package #Formula Injection Fast Excel 5.x Adds Streaming Imports and Safer Exports for Laravel ===================================================================== 20 Sep 2026 4 min read ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01M22N44A70A5MC2S599JP0MPH.webp) Mohamed Said Table of contents 1. [ 01 Fast Excel 5.x: Streaming Imports and Safer Exports ](#fast-excel-5x-streaming-imports-and-safer-exports) 2. [ 02 Lazy Imports for Large Files ](#lazy-imports-for-large-files) 3. [ 03 Chunked Imports with Stable Headings ](#chunked-imports-with-stable-headings) 4. [ 04 Selecting Sheets and Columns ](#selecting-sheets-and-columns) 5. [ 05 Escaping Spreadsheet Formulas ](#escaping-spreadsheet-formulas) 6. [ 06 Compatibility and Installation ](#compatibility-and-installation) 7. [ 07 Key Takeaways ](#key-takeaways) Fast Excel 5.x: Streaming Imports and Safer Exports --------------------------------------------------- Fast Excel has grown well beyond its v2.2 roots of simple collection exports and browser downloads. The 5.x release series adds lazy streaming imports, fine-grained chunked import controls, sheet and column selection, and a built-in guard against formula injection — making it a practical choice for large operational data pipelines, not just quick report downloads. The package continues to use [OpenSpout](https://github.com/openspout/openspout) under the hood, keeping memory usage low by avoiding a full in-memory parse of every spreadsheet. --- Lazy Imports for Large Files ---------------------------- The original `import()` method loads every row into a collection at once. For large uploads that can exhaust available PHP memory. `importLazy()`, introduced in Fast Excel 5.12, yields rows through a `LazyCollection` so you can process them in batches without holding the entire file in memory: ```php use App\Models\Contact; use Illuminate\Support\LazyCollection; use Rap2hpoutre\FastExcel\FastExcel; (new FastExcel)->importLazy('contacts.xlsx') ->chunk(1_000) ->each(function (LazyCollection $contacts) { Contact::insert($contacts->all()); }); ``` This pattern is a clean alternative to manual CSV parsing for large file uploads. --- Chunked Imports with Stable Headings ------------------------------------ When you need a queued job to process only a slice of a spreadsheet, three methods give you precise control: - `headerRow(int $row)` — reads column keys from the specified heading row - `startRow(int $row)` — sets where the current chunk begins - `limitRows(int $count)` — caps the number of rows read ```php use Rap2hpoutre\FastExcel\FastExcel; $rows = (new FastExcel) ->headerRow(1) ->startRow(2 + ($page * 1_000)) ->limitRows(1_000) ->import('orders.xlsx'); ``` Before Fast Excel 5.17, `startRow()` also treated the selected row as the heading row, so a later chunk could accidentally use a data row as its keys. `headerRow()` (added in [\#418](https://github.com/rap2hpoutre/fast-excel/pull/418)) separates those two concerns without breaking the existing `startRow()` behaviour. --- Selecting Sheets and Columns ---------------------------- Fast Excel 5.16 added `sheet()` and `onlyColumns()` to limit exactly what data an import reads: ```php use Rap2hpoutre\FastExcel\FastExcel; $orders = (new FastExcel) ->sheet('Orders') ->onlyColumns(['A', 'B', 'H']) ->import('customer-export.xlsx'); ``` `onlyColumns()` accepts column letters or one-based integer positions. It prevents empty fields from appearing when spreadsheet formatting extends far beyond the real data. `limitColumns()` is also available when you need every column up to a given position. --- Escaping Spreadsheet Formulas ----------------------------- Values that begin with `=`, `+`, `-`, or `@` are interpreted as formulas by most spreadsheet applications. When those values originate from user-controlled input — an uploaded CSV or a database field — an export can inadvertently execute arbitrary formulas when someone opens the file. Fast Excel 5.17 added `escapeFormulas()` ([\#411](https://github.com/rap2hpoutre/fast-excel/pull/411)) to write such values as plain text: ```php use Rap2hpoutre\FastExcel\FastExcel; (new FastExcel($rows)) ->escapeFormulas() ->export('orders.xlsx'); ``` This is a straightforward mitigation for CSV/formula injection, a risk that is easy to overlook in report-generation code. --- Compatibility and Installation ------------------------------ Fast Excel 5 requires **PHP 8.0+** and **Laravel 6–13**. It uses OpenSpout 4. Projects still on Fast Excel 2 (PHP 7 / Laravel 5) need to plan the dependency upgrade separately, as the major-version history includes a move from `box/spout` to `openspout/openspout` and a PHP 8 minimum. Install via Composer: ```bash composer require rap2hpoutre/fast-excel ``` --- Key Takeaways ------------- - `importLazy()` streams rows through `LazyCollection`, avoiding full in-memory loads - `headerRow()` + `startRow()` + `limitRows()` enable safe, paginated queue-based imports - `sheet()` and `onlyColumns()` scope imports to exactly the data you need - `escapeFormulas()` prevents formula injection in user-data exports - Requires PHP 8.0+ and Laravel 6+; uses OpenSpout 4 --- *Source: [Fast Excel 5.x Adds Streaming Imports and Safer Exports — Laravel News](https://laravel-news.com/fast-excel-5-x)* Found this useful? [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsaied.com%2Farticles%2Ffast-excel-5x-adds-streaming-imports-and-safer-exports-for-laravel&text=Fast+Excel+5.x+Adds+Streaming+Imports+and+Safer+Exports+for+Laravel) [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsaied.com%2Farticles%2Ffast-excel-5x-adds-streaming-imports-and-safer-exports-for-laravel) Frequently Asked Questions ---------------------------- 3 questions Q01 What is the difference between import() and importLazy() in Fast Excel 5? `import()` loads all rows into a collection at once, which can exhaust PHP memory on large files. `importLazy()` yields rows through a LazyCollection, letting you process them in chunks without holding the entire spreadsheet in memory. Q02 How does escapeFormulas() protect against formula injection in Fast Excel? Calling `escapeFormulas()` before exporting causes Fast Excel to write values that start with =, +, -, or @ as plain text rather than formulas. This prevents spreadsheet applications from executing user-controlled values as formulas when the file is opened. Q03 What are the minimum requirements for Fast Excel 5? Fast Excel 5 requires PHP 8.0 or later and Laravel 6 or later. It uses OpenSpout 4. Projects on PHP 7 or Laravel 5 that rely on Fast Excel 2 need to upgrade those dependencies before moving to version 5. 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