prova:
codice:
<?php
$filename = 'pippo.doc';
$file_path = $absolute_path . '/uploadfiles/' . $filename;
if (file_exists($file_path)) {
    $size = filesize($file_path);
    $now = gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s') . ' GMT';
    header("Content-type: application/octet-stream");
    header("Content-length: " . $size);
    //header('Content-Type: ' . $mime_type);
    header('Expires: ' . $now);
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');
    header('Pragma: no-cache');
    header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
    readfile($file_path);
    exit();
}
....
?>