How to save an email as a PDF on iPhone and iPad

How to save an email as a PDF on iPhone: open the message in Mail, tap the reply arrow, choose Print, then share the preview and pick Save to Files. The Gmail app has the same Print item under its three-dot menu. If someone sent you an .eml file, SaveMail opens it in Safari and you save the PDF from the share sheet, with nothing uploaded.

How to save an email as a PDF on iPhone from the Mail app

iOS has no "Save as PDF" button in Mail, but the print preview is a PDF, and the share sheet can save it. The exact gesture changed between iOS versions, so both are listed.

1. Open the email in the Mail app. If it is a thread, open the specific message you need; Mail prints the message you are viewing.
2. Tap the reply arrow at the bottom (or the three dots in newer versions) and scroll the sheet to Print.
3. On the Print Options screen, tap the Share icon in the top corner. On older iOS versions there is no Share icon: pinch outward on the page thumbnail to open the full preview, then tap Share.
4. Choose Save to Files, pick iCloud Drive or On My iPhone, and tap Save.
5. The file is named after the subject; rename it in Files if you file by date.

On iPad the steps are identical; the Print item sits in the same reply menu and the share icon is in the same place. The result is a text PDF, so Spotlight and the Files search find words inside it.

Have the email as a file (EML, MSG, MBOX)? Convert it to PDF in your browser: nothing is uploaded.

Convert an email to PDF on iPhone from the Gmail app

1. Open the message in the Gmail app and tap the three dots next to the sender name (not the ones at the top of the thread).
2. Tap Print. The iOS print sheet opens with a preview.
3. Tap the Share icon, or pinch out on the preview on older versions, then Save to Files.

Gmail prints the single message, not the whole conversation. To keep a full thread, print from the thread-level three dots and choose Print all, where available, or save the thread from a desktop browser as described on save Gmail as PDF. Outlook for iOS follows the same pattern through its three-dot menu, and the desktop paths are on save an Outlook email as PDF.

Open an .eml or .msg attachment on iPhone and save it as PDF

The Mail app previews .eml attachments but not .msg files from Outlook, and neither preview has a reliable save path. SaveMail works on iPhone and Android in the browser for single EML and MSG files:

1. Tap the attachment and choose Save to Files, or open it in Safari directly from the attachment menu.
2. Go to the SaveMail converter in Safari and pick the file with the file button; the Files picker opens.
3. The message renders with its headers, body, inline images and attachment list. Attachments can be downloaded one by one or as a ZIP.
4. Tap Save as PDF. Safari's print sheet opens; share the preview and choose Save to Files, exactly as with Mail.

The file is parsed by JavaScript in the tab; there is no upload endpoint and no account. Format background is on what is an EML file and what is an MSG file.

Which method to use on iPhone

Phones are fine for a single message. For a batch, a laptop is faster: the print dialog on a computer remembers the destination, and an MBOX from Google Takeout can be opened in SaveMail with every message listed, as explained on MBOX to PDF.

Limits on iPhone

• The PDF comes from the system print sheet, so page size and margins follow that sheet; there is no separate PDF button.
• Attachments are listed in the PDF but stored as separate files; download them from the attachment list before closing the tab.
• Large MSG files with big attachments extract slowly on a phone; MBOX files are better handled on a computer.
• Encrypted messages (S/MIME, PGP) are shown as encrypted, not decrypted.

Printing to paper from the same sheet is covered on print an email from iPhone.

Frequently asked questions