PhpExcel helper for easy generating XLS files PHPExcel is a great library that can create XLS files. For more information see PHPExcel project homepage: http://phpexcel.codeplex.com/ I added method for setting font and for easy table data adding (see example). This plugin is for CakePHP 2.x Short example: Controller: public $helpers = array('PhpExcel.PhpExcel'); View: $this->PhpExcel->createWorksheet(); $this->PhpExcel->setDefaultFont('Calibri', 12); // define table cells $table = array( array('label' => __('User'), 'width' => 'auto', 'filter' => true), array('label' => __('Type'), 'width' => 'auto', 'filter' => true), array('label' => __('Date'), 'width' => 'auto'), array('label' => __('Description'), 'width' => 50, 'wrap' => true), array('label' => __('Modified'), 'width' => 'auto') ); // heading $this->PhpExcel->addTableHeader($table, array('name' => 'Cambria', 'bold' => true)); // data foreach ($data as $d) { $this->PhpExcel->addTableRow(array( $d['User']['name'], $d['Type']['name'], $d['User']['date'], $d['User']['description'], $d['User']['modified'] )); } $this->PhpExcel->addTableFooter(); $this->PhpExcel->output();