How to Save Outlook Email as PDF: An Easy Guide 

Saving Outlook email is considered an essential step for data backup, legal compliance, or for sharing with non-Outlook users. Saving Outlook emails to PDF offers a secure and cross-platform compatibility to the users, enabling easy sharing of the emails and long-term backups. Saving to the PDF also helps in preserving the exact format, fonts, and structure of the original message, which allows for easy offline access and simple archiving. You can save the Outlook emails to PDFs using your mobile device or on your desktop. The blog offers you a step-by-step process to save Outlook emails to PDF on different devices, like Android mobile phone, iPhone/iPad, Mac, and Windows desktop. 

What is the Need to Save Outlook Email as PDF? 

Saving Outlook mails into PDF offers various key benefits to the recipient. Although there are various other key formats available to save Outlook emails, like MSG format, EML format, and TXT format, the PDF format offers various key benefits. A PDF file helps in preserving the integrity of the formats, along with offering offline access.  

The benefits of saving Outlook emails to PDF files are as follows: 

• Easy Archiving and Portability: Saving the Outlook email into a PDF file offers portability to the user. PDF files are a universally accepted format and can be viewed on any device.  
  

• Ease of Sharing: The PDF files are easy to share with anyone and can also be easily attached to other documents. A PDF file can also be signed or annotated using tools like Adobe Acrobat.  
  

• Preserves Document Integrity: Saving the Outlook email in PDF format helps in maintaining the exact formatting, structure, and fonts of the original email. 
  

• Enhanced Security: Saving the Outlook Mail to PDF allows encryption and password protection. Enhanced security compliance safeguards legal correspondence or any other sensitive information.  

Read More: How to Send an Encrypted Email in Outlook (Step-by-Step Guide) 

How to Save Outlook Email as PDF on Desktop? 

On the desktop, you can save the Outlook email to PDF using three different methods, which include: via Outlook for Windows, on Mac, and using a web browser. 

On Outlook for Windows: 

The method of saving Outlook emails to PDF on a Windows desktop; you can simply select File and click on Print. Before saving the file to the PDF format, it is important to note that the "Memo Style" is selected in the settings, which keeps the standard format of the email. It is also important to understand that the method does not save attachments, as the attachments need to be saved separately or by using dedicated add-ins.  

The in-depth process of saving the Outlook email to PDF on Outlook for Windows includes the following steps:  

• Step 1: Open the specific email you want to save in the desktop application of Outlook.  
  

• Step 2: Click on File, located in the top-left corner and select Print. You can also press Ctrl + P on your keyboard.  
  

• Step 3: Select Microsoft Print to PDF under the printer options. 
  

• Step 4: Click on Print. 
  

• Step 5: On the "Save Print Output As" dialog box, select your desired location, enter a file name, and click on Save. 

On Mac:  

On Apple's Mac devices, you can save an Outlook email as a PDF file simply by selecting File > Print > Save as PDF. On the Mac devices, you can also drag an email directly to your desktop from the Outlook inbox. It is also key to note that on Mac devices, the email is generally saved in .eml or .msg format, which can later be opened and printed to the PDF format. On the Mac devices, you can select multiple emails using the "Command" key, and print the selected emails all together.  

The detailed steps to download Outlook emails to PDF on a Mac device are as follows:  

• Step 1: Open the Microsoft Outlook application on your Mac device.  

• Step 2: Select the email you want to save. 

• Step 3: Go to File > Press or simply press Command + P keys on your keyboard. 

• Step 4: Select "Save as PDF" from the PDF dropdown menu of the print dialog box.  

• Step 5: Choose the name of the file and click on Save. 

On Outlook Web or Browser:  

In the web browser, you can save the Outlook email to PDF in four easy-to-follow steps. On the web browser, the print function does not automatically save the attachments as part of the PDF, which have to be downloaded separately. On the web browser, you can also press Ctrl + P on a Windows device or Command + P on a Mac device to instantly print the email.  

The detailed steps to save the Outlook emails to PDF using a web browser are as follows:  

• Step 1: Log in to Outlook on the browser (Outlook.com) and open the email you want to save to PDF.  
  

• Step 2: Click on the three dots located in the top-right corner of the message pane.  
  

• Step 3: Select "Print" from the drop-down menu. 
  

• Step 4: In print preview, change the "Destination" or "Printer" to "Save as PDF" or "Microsoft Print to PDF".  
  

• Step 5: Click on Save. Select the desired location on your computer, enter the file name, and click on Save. 

How to Save Outlook Email as PDF on Mobile Devices? 

On mobile devices, you can save Outlook emails to a PDF using two methods: saving Outlook emails on an iOS device and saving emails on an Android device. 

On iOS Devices (iPhone/iPad):  

To save Outlook emails to PDF on an iOS device, which includes iPhone and iPad, you need to download and log in to the Outlook app on the device. The process of saving Outlook emails to PDF on iOS devices allows users to preserve the format, along with storing the saved file in the local storage units.  

The step-by-step process to save the Outlook email to PDF on an iOS device is as follows:  

• Step 1: Open the Outlook app and open the email you want to save.  
  

• Step 2: Tap on the three-dot menu icon, located on the top-right corner, and select Print. 
  

• Step 3: Tap on the Share button on the Print screen. 
  

• Step 4: Select Save to Files > Select a folder > Save. 

On Android Devices:  

On Android devices, you can save Outlook emails to PDF format using six easy-to-follow steps. The process of saving the mail generally includes selecting Print from the menu option and choosing Save as PDF. Alternatively, on Android devices, you can also use various third-party apps, like DocHub and eSoftTools, to export the email to a PDF file format.  

The guided process of saving an Outlook email to a PDF file includes:  

• Step 1: Open the Microsoft Outlook app and navigate to the email you want to save.  

• Step 2: Tap on the three-dot menu located on the top right corner and select Print.  

• Step 3: In the print preview screen, select Save as PDF from the dropdown box.  

• Step 4: Tap on the Save or PDF icon to download the file.  

• Step 5: Select the folder on your device where you want to save the file and tap on Done or Save. 

Key Consideration 

There are various key considerations before saving the Outlook email to PDF, which include attachment handling, email threading, naming convention, and preserving formats.  

Some of the key considerations for saving Outlook emails to PDF include:  

• Attachment Handling: Attachment handling is among the most crucial considerations before saving an Outlook email to PDF. Using the standard "Print to PDF" function only saves the email body, not the attachment. You can manually download the attachments to the same folder as the PDF, or convert the attachments to PDF and merge them together.  
  
  

• Email Threading: The default print function generally captures the currently selected message and not the entire email chain. To save all the messages of the thread, you can expand all the conversations before saving.  
  
  

• Format and Layout Preservation: Emails with complex tables or images may sometimes not render perfectly. Note that saving the mails using the standard methods may also lose background colors and images.  
  
  

• Security and Confidentiality: To secure the sensitive content of the emails, you can consider password-protecting the saved file. 

Conclusion 

Saving Outlook emails to PDF format offers various key benefits, like offering long-term archiving and creating secure legal records. By saving the Outlook emails to PDFs, you can also easily share the files with others and can also attach them to other documents. You can save the Outlook emails to PDF using your desktop or using mobile devices. On a desktop, you can save the Outlook email to PDF using the Outlook for Windows application, on Mac devices, or by using a web browser. Similarly, on a mobile device, you can save Outlook mail to PDF on Android devices or on an iOS device. 

Frequently Asked Questions of How to Save Outlook Email as PDF

1. Can I save multiple emails as one PDF? 

Yes, you can save multiple Outlook emails as one PDF. To save multiple Outlook emails as a PDF, you select multiple emails you want to save using CTRL + click, and then click on File > Print. Then select "Microsoft Print to PDF" or "Adobe PFD", which creates a single file of all the selected emails. 

2. Does saving Outlook emails also save the attachments? 

Yes, saving Outlook emails to PDF usually does not save the attachments into the same documents. To include the attachment, you can save it separately or use a specialized plugin. 

3. In what other formats can I save Outlook emails, other than PDF? 

Apart from PDF format, you can save Outlook emails in several other formats, which include .msg (Outlook Message Format), .eml (EML format for moving across different email apps), HTML (preserves formatting and images), and .txt (Text File), among other formats. 

4. What are some popular tools to save Outlook emails to PDF? 

Some of the popular tools to save Outlook emails to PDF are: Microsoft Print to PDF (Built-in), Adobe Acrobat, Nitro Pro, vMail, and Power Automate, among others.

 

5. What are some popular third-party tools for Mac to save Outlook emails to PDF? 

On Mac, you can use various popular third-party and professional tools to save Outlook emails to PDF, which include Mail Archiver X, MacProTools PST to PDF Converter, and RecoveryTools Email to PDF Converter, among others.