How to Save an Email as a PDF

Every major email program can do this, and none of them put it where you'd expect. The short version: open the email, choose Print, and set the destination to "Save as PDF." That single trick works in Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, and on your phone.

Below is the exact path for each, plus the one setting that decides whether your PDF is searchable or just a picture.

Already have a saved .eml file? Open it here and save it as PDF — it runs in your browser and the file is never uploaded.

The thing worth getting right first

There are two ways to end up with a PDF of an email, and they are not equally useful.

Printing to PDF keeps the text as text. You can search it, select from it, copy quotes out of it. Screen readers can read it. Long emails break across pages properly, and the file stays small.

Screenshotting gives you a picture wrapped in a PDF. Nothing is searchable, nothing is selectable, the file is larger, and it blurs when zoomed.

If the PDF is going into a client record, a case file, an expense claim, or anything anyone might need to search later, use the print method. It costs one extra click.

Outlook (desktop)

1. Open the email
2. File → Print
3. Under Printer, choose Microsoft Print to PDF (Windows) or Save as PDF (Mac)
4. Click Print, then pick where to save

Newer versions of Outlook also offer File → Save As → PDF directly, which does the same thing.

Note: Outlook prints what it displays. If you have remote images blocked, they won't appear in the PDF either. Click "Download pictures" first if you need the email to look complete.

Outlook on the web

1. Open the email
2. Click the three dots at the top right of the message
3. Choose Print
4. In your browser's print dialog, set the destination to Save as PDF

Gmail

1. Open the email
2. Click the printer icon at the top right of the message — not the one in the browser toolbar, the one inside the email itself
3. A print preview opens
4. Set Destination to Save as PDF
5. Save

The in-message printer icon matters. Printing the whole browser page instead gives you Gmail's interface — sidebar, buttons and all — wrapped around your email.

For a whole conversation thread, expand all the messages first by clicking "Show trimmed content" and any collapsed replies, then print. Anything still collapsed won't be in the PDF.

Apple Mail (Mac)

1. Open the email
2. File → Print
3. Click the PDF dropdown at the bottom left of the dialog
4. Save as PDF

iPhone and iPad

1. Open the email in Mail
2. Tap the reply arrow at the bottom
3. Choose Print
4. On the print preview, pinch outward on the page thumbnail with two fingers
5. The email opens full screen as a PDF — tap the share icon and choose Save to Files

The pinch gesture is genuinely undiscoverable and is the step almost everyone gets stuck on. There's no button for it.

Android

1. Open the email in Gmail
2. Tap the three dots at the top right
3. Print
4. Change the destination to Save as PDF
5. Tap the PDF button to save

A saved .eml file

If what you have is a .eml file rather than an email sitting in your inbox — from an export, a legal hold, or a forwarded attachment — most of the routes above don't apply. You'd have to import it into a mail program first.

This browser-based viewer opens it directly and saves it as PDF without installing anything, and without the file leaving your device. That last part matters more than it sounds: emails being converted are usually invoices, contracts, disputes, or HR matters, and most online converters ask you to upload them to someone else's server.

Converting several at once

For a handful, repeat the steps above — it's faster than setting up tooling.

For hundreds, you want automation. Outlook supports VBA macros for batch printing. Thunderbird with the ImportExportTools NG add-on can process a whole folder. For .eml files specifically, a short script using Python's built-in email module plus a headless browser handles the conversion well.

Be careful with bulk online converters. Uploading a folder of business email to a third-party service is a disclosure decision as much as a technical one.

What to check in the finished PDF

Headers are there. From, To, Date, Subject. A PDF of a message body with no headers is much weaker as a record.

Text is selectable. Try to highlight a line. If you can't, you got an image and it's worth redoing.

Attachments are handled separately. Printing captures the message, not the files attached to it. Save those on their own and keep them with the PDF.

Nothing is cut off. Wide tables and image-heavy marketing emails sometimes clip at the right margin. If that happens, use landscape orientation or reduce the print scale to 80%.

Common questions

How do I save an email as a PDF with attachments included? You don't, in one step — printing captures the message body only. Save the attachments separately. Some paid tools merge them into a single PDF, but for most purposes a folder holding both is cleaner and easier to verify.

Can I save an email as a PDF on my phone? Yes. iPhone uses the pinch gesture on the print preview; Android has Save as PDF as a print destination.

How do I save a whole email thread? Expand every collapsed message first, then print. Anything hidden won't be included.

Does saving as PDF change the original email? No. It creates a copy in a new format. The original stays in your mailbox.

What about .msg files? Those are Outlook's own format. Open in Outlook, then print to PDF. Here's how .msg differs from .eml.

Why does my PDF look like a screenshot? Whatever you used rasterized the page instead of printing it. Use the print-to-PDF route in your mail program and you'll get real text.

Got a .eml file? Open and save it as PDF here — free, in your browser, nothing uploaded.