Combining answers from @owencm and @Chazt3n, this function will allow download of text from IE11, Firefox, and Chrome. (Sorry, I don't have access to Safari or Opera, but please add a comment if you try and it works.)
initiate_user_download = function(file_name, mime_type, text) {
// Anything but IE works here
if (undefined === window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob) {
var e = document.createElement('a');
var href = 'data:' + mime_type + ';charset=utf-8,' + encodeURIComponent(text);
e.setAttribute('href', href);
e.setAttribute('download', file_name);
document.body.appendChild(e);
e.click();
document.body.removeChild(e);
}
// IE-specific code
else {
var charCodeArr = new Array(text.length);
for (var i = 0; i < text.length; ++i) {
var charCode = text.charCodeAt(i);
charCodeArr[i] = charCode;
}
var blob = new Blob([new Uint8Array(charCodeArr)], {type: mime_type});
window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob(blob, file_name);
}
}
// Example:
initiate_user_download('data.csv', 'text/csv', 'Sample,Data,Here\n1,2,3\n');