How to save to PDF

You have just finished writing the biology research on the circulatory system, which you have to submit at school tomorrow, and you want to publish it on your website so that other people can read it. You wrote it with Microsoft Word, right? Get out of your mind to publish it in DOC format   (Microsoft Word format), as not everyone could read it!

Instead, you have to create a PDF document , which everyone can read, starting with those who use Windows to get to those who use macOS, Linux or want to read your file on a smartphone or tablet. How do you say? Have you already thought about it but you don’t know how to save your search in PDF ? Don’t worry, it’s a no-brainer, and then I’m here today to show you all the steps to take.

Take five minutes of free time and find out how to create “universal” PDF documents, readable by any device and software suitable for the purpose, using your Windows PC, your Mac or even your portable device, be it an Android terminal or a iOS device. I assure you that you will be surprised by the simplicity with which you will be able to do everything and by the quality of the results you will be able to obtain!

Index

• Save as PDF on Windows
  • Microsoft Word for Windows
  • Windows 10 PDF printer
  • doPDF
• Save to PDF on macOS
  • MacOS virtual printer
  • Microsoft Word for macOS
• Save as PDF on Android
• Save to PDF on iPhone and iPad

Save as PDF on Windows

If you use a PC equipped with the Windows operating system, you can create PDF files by turning to a multitude of solutions, all extremely intuitive and at no cost: choose the one that seems best suited to your needs and use it by following the instructions below.

Microsoft Word for Windows

If your intention is to save a Word document in PDF , all you have to do is access the menu of the famous Microsoft word processor and select the appropriate option, which is now present in all the most recent versions of Office (from 2007 , after installing a specific additional component , onwards).

To export a Word document in PDF format, all you have to do is open it, click on the Word File button (located at the top left) and select the Export item from the menu that appears on the side. Then press the Create PDF / XPS button , select the folder in which to save the document, type the name you want to assign to it in the File name field and click the Publish button to complete the operation.

If you want, by placing the check mark on one of the options found at the bottom right: Standard or Minimum size , you can choose the quality that the output document should have (“Standard” creates a document of standard size and quality, ” Minimum size ”creates a very light document which however gives up some of the quality of the images contained in it).

Windows 10 PDF printer

Do you have a PC equipped with Windows 10 ? Then I have great news for you! The operating system you have installed on your computer includes a virtual printer which, without the need for additional software, allows you to create PDF files from any printable content: web pages, Office documents, photographs and much more. In short, it is enough that a program supports the printing function and, thanks to the Windows virtual printer, it can be used to create files in PDF format. Beautiful, is not it? Then try it now!

Open the file or web page you want to save as PDF, go to the File menu of the program in use and select the Print item from the latter. In some software, such as browsers for surfing the Internet, the File menu can be replaced by buttons such as (?) , (…) Or?.

At this point, in the window that opens, select Microsoft Print to PDF or Save as PDF from the list of available printers (on Chrome, to access the list of available printers you have to click on the Edit button in the left sidebar), check that the print settings (e.g. margins, page orientation, etc.) conform to your needs and start the PDF creation by clicking on the Print or Save button . Finally, select the destination folder of the document and the name you want to assign it and that’s it!

doPDF

Are you using an early version of Windows and / or can’t find the Windows 10 PDF printer ? No problem, you can contact doPDF . If you have never heard of it, doPDF is a virtual PDF printer for Windows which, once installed on your computer, allows you to obtain PDF files from any printable content (web pages, photos, Office documents, etc.) just like the printer Virtual Windows 10. It is completely free and can also be used for commercial / professional purposes.

To download doPDF on your PC, connect to its official website and click on the Download Now button first ! which is on the left and then on the button Download now! present on the page that opens. When the download is complete, double-click on it, open the software installation package ( dopdf-full.exe ) and, in the window that appears on the screen, remove the check marks from the Install add-in for Microsoft Office options and Send anonymous usage statistics (to prevent installation of the doPDF add-on for Office, which is not useful for your purpose, and sending usage statistics to developers).

At this point, click on the Install now and Yes buttons and, within a few seconds, the installation of doPDF will be completed. Then click on Close to close the doPDF window and conclude the setup.

Now you can proceed to create the files in PDF format using the printing function of the applications installed on your PC. So open the file or web page you want to save in PDF format and call the Print command from the File menu , which is generally located at the top left (even if, as mentioned above, in programs such as web browsers it is at the top to the right and is “hidden” by buttons like (?) , (…) and?).

In the print preview window, choose doPDF from the list of available printers and give the print command by clicking on the appropriate button.

Within a few seconds the main doPDF window should appear, through which you can choose the destination folder of the document (by clicking on the Browse button ) and set the quality of the output file by choosing between Smallest file (low quality with minimum size), Medium ( quality and medium size) and Best quality (better quality with larger size).

Once you have set your preferences, press the OK button and you will get your document in PDF format. Happy?

Save to PDF on macOS

Are you using a Mac and not a Windows PC? Don’t despair. Indeed, it breathes a great sigh of relief, because macOS includes a virtual printer “as standard” that allows you to save any printable content from any application to PDF: let’s see how to make the most of it.

MacOS virtual printer

To take advantage of the macOS virtual printer, all you have to do is open the file or content you want to export to PDF (e.g. a web page) and call the Print command from the File or Archive menu , located at the top left .

In the window that opens, expand the PDF drop-down menu located at the bottom left and select the item Save as PDF from the latter. Then type the name you want to assign to your document, typing it in the Save as field , choose the folder in which to save the latter, using the drop-down menu Located in , and press the Save button to complete the PDF export.

If you use the Chrome browser , you can obtain the same result by calling the Print command from the File menu , clicking on the Edit button in the window that opens (in the left sidebar) and selecting the Save as PDF option from the list of available printers.

Microsoft Word for macOS

If you use Word for Mac and want to save a PDF document with it, open the file you want to convert, go to the File> Save As menu (located at the top left) and, in the window that opens, set the option PDF in the File Format drop-down menu .

Then type the name you want to assign to the document in the Save as field , choose the destination folder for the file via the Located in menu and click the Export button to start saving the PDF.

If you want, you can adjust the quality settings of the output document by choosing an option between Best for electronic distribution and accessibility and Best for printing (best quality), at the bottom right.

Save as PDF on Android

Believe it or not, you can also create PDF files from smartphones and tablets. If, for example, you are using an Android terminal , you can save any printable content (e.g. a document, a Web page or a photo) simply by viewing the latter and pressing the share button   (the icon with the three dots connected to each other) ) or by selecting the Share item from the menu of the app in use and calling up the print command from the box that appears.

On the next screen, choose  Save to PDF  or Save as PDF   from the list of available printers, press the PDF button  located at the top right and select the folder in which to save the output document. Easier than that ?!

Save to PDF on iPhone and iPad

Even iPhones and iPads allow you to create PDF files from any printable content. How? I’ll explain it to you right away.

View the content you want to transform into PDF on your iPhone or iPad (it can be a web page, document, photo or other), tap the share icon  (the square with the arrow going up) and select the Print command   from the menu that opens (in the second row of icons).

At this point,  zoom with two fingers on the thumbnail of the file you intend to export to PDF, press a second time on the share icon  and choose an application in which to save the output document, such as File or Dropbox.