DRF Excel Renderer

2.5.3 verified Mon Apr 27 auth: no python

Django REST Framework renderer for generating Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx) files from DRF responses using OpenPyXL. Current version 2.5.3, requires Python >=3.9, DRF >=3.14. Release cadence: irregular, with maintenance updates and occasional bug fixes.

pip install drf-excel

Common errors

error 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'sheet' ↓

cause Attempting to access sheet properties after rendering without creating the workbook properly.

fix

Ensure the view correctly returns an XLSX response; use XLSXMixin and renderer_classes correctly.

error ImportError: cannot import name 'XLSXFileRenderer' from 'drf_excel' ↓

cause Importing from wrong module; correct import path is from drf_excel.renderers.

fix

Replace 'from drf_excel import XLSXFileRenderer' with 'from drf_excel.renderers import XLSXFileRenderer'.

Warnings

breaking Version 2.2.0 removed NullBooleanField and requires DRF >=3.14. Upgrade from older versions may break if using NullBooleanField or older DRF. ↓

fix Upgrade to DRF >=3.14 and replace NullBooleanField with BooleanField(null=True).

gotcha Pagination can break the renderer if your view uses pagination. The renderer expects the full list, not a paginated response. ↓

fix Disable pagination for the export endpoint, or override list() to return the entire queryset.

gotcha If you use `_lazy` translations in serializer fields, they may not be rendered correctly in Excel without special handling. ↓

fix Upgrade to drf-excel >=2.4.0 for lazy translation support.

Imports

XLSXFileRenderer

wrong

from drf_excel import XLSXFileRenderer

correct

from drf_excel.renderers import XLSXFileRenderer

Wrong import path; module is drf_excel.renderers

XLSXMixin
```
from drf_excel.mixins import XLSXMixin
```

Quickstart

Basic usage: mixin + renderer, minimal setup.

from rest_framework import viewsets
from drf_excel.renderers import XLSXFileRenderer
from drf_excel.mixins import XLSXMixin
from myapp.models import MyModel
from myapp.serializers import MySerializer

class MyViewSet(XLSXMixin, viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    queryset = MyModel.objects.all()
    serializer_class = MySerializer
    renderer_classes = [XLSXFileRenderer]
    filename = 'my_export.xlsx'
    
    def get_queryset(self):
        # Add filtering if needed
        return super().get_queryset().filter(is_active=True)