Tip of the Week: Download Your Outlook Email as a PDF

Sometimes you might want to download an email from your inbox. It might be for various reasons, such as documentation or otherwise. What file format works best for this type of purpose? A PDF is one that comes to mind, as you cannot easily edit a PDF, something which makes it great for sending documents that you want to preserve the formatting of, or those which you want to preserve the authenticity.

Today’s tip is all about how you can save an email from your Outlook account as a PDF for later use.

How to Save Your Outlook Email as a PDF

To pull this little trick off, you’ll have to use the virtual PDF printer that is available on all Windows devices. Keep in mind that you’re not actually printing out these documents; you’re simply using the virtual PDF printer as a method to convert the message to a downloadable file. Still, this shouldn’t stop you from actually printing it out later (unless, of course, you are trying to go paperless).

First, you’ll have to find the email that you want to save as a PDF. You can do this either by opening the Outlook application and finding the message or by logging on to your web-based Outlook application through your web browser.

From here, you’ll have to navigate to the Print option. To find it, click on File and then on Print. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + P.

In the Print window, you’ll see an option for Microsoft Print to PDF. Next, click on the Print button. You will be prompted to Save Print Output As, so select where you want to save the PDF to. Once you’re done, go ahead and click Save.

The process for saving from a web browser is similar. Once you have found the right message, click on the three-dot menu in the corner of your message, then select Print. You’ll follow the same steps outlined above to save your message using Microsoft Print to PDF.

And… that’s it! You’re all set with your new PDF file.

What kind of tips do you want to see us cover on our blog in the future? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe for all of the latest and greatest tips and tricks related to Microsoft Office and other productivity software!