PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet · error · PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Exception

Directory does not exist: $temporaryDirectory

Error message

Directory does not exist: $temporaryDirectory

What it means

The PDF writers (mPDF/Dompdf/TCPDF wrappers) render HTML to an intermediate file in a temporary directory before producing the PDF. setTempDir() validates its argument and refuses anything that is not an existing directory, throwing this WriterException immediately rather than failing later during save().

Source

Thrown at src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Pdf.php:201

    /**
     * Get temporary storage directory.
     */
    public function getTempDir(): string
    {
        return $this->tempDir;
    }

    /**
     * Set temporary storage directory.
     *
     * @param string $temporaryDirectory Temporary storage directory
     */
    public function setTempDir(string $temporaryDirectory): self
    {
        if (is_dir($temporaryDirectory)) {
            $this->tempDir = $temporaryDirectory;
        } else {
            throw new WriterException("Directory does not exist: $temporaryDirectory");
        }

        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * Save Spreadsheet to PDF file, pre-save.
     *
     * @param resource|string $filename Name of the file to save as
     *
     * @return resource
     */
    protected function prepareForSave($filename)
    {
        //  Open file
        $this->openFileHandle($filename);

        return $this->fileHandle;

View on GitHub (pinned to 65b080eef4)

Solutions

1. Create the directory before setting it: if (!is_dir($dir)) { mkdir($dir, 0775, true); }
2. Prefer sys_get_temp_dir() (always exists) over a custom path unless you must isolate storage.
3. Resolve relative paths to absolute with realpath()/base_path() so cwd differences cannot break the check.
4. Provision the directory in your deployment (Dockerfile RUN mkdir, ansible task) if it is fixed configuration.

Example fix

// before
$writer = new \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Writer\Pdf\Mpdf($spreadsheet);
$writer->setTempDir('/var/tmp/pdf-export'); // throws if missing

// after
$dir = '/var/tmp/pdf-export';
if (!is_dir($dir)) {
    mkdir($dir, 0775, true);
}
$writer->setTempDir($dir);

$tempDir = rtrim($config['pdf_temp_dir'], '/');
if (!is_dir($tempDir)) {
    if (!mkdir($tempDir, 0775, true) && !is_dir($tempDir)) {
        throw new RuntimeException("Cannot create PDF temp dir: $tempDir");
    }
}
if (!is_writable($tempDir)) {
    throw new RuntimeException("PDF temp dir not writable: $tempDir");
}
$writer->setTempDir($tempDir);

When it happens

Trigger: Calling $writer->setTempDir($path) where $path does not exist: typo, a subdirectory never created, a relative path resolved from a different working directory (CLI vs web SAPI), or a path provisioned only on another environment.

Common situations: Config-driven temp directories (e.g. sys_get_temp_dir() . '/pdf') that work in dev but are never created in the deployed container; switching from absolute to relative paths; tmpwatch/systemd-tmpfiles cleaning the directory between deploys.

Related errors

• Invalid value $calculateDateTimeType for calculated date tim
• Chart renderer must implement PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Chart
• Valid directory to TrueType Font files not specified
• Unknown font name "$name". Cannot map to TrueType font file
• Invalid timezone {$timezoneName}

AI-assisted analysis of PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet@65b080eef4 (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b28926680445c149. Report an issue: GitHub.