How to save an email as a PDF

How to save an email as a PDF: open the message, choose Print, and pick Save as PDF as the printer; every major client supports this. If the email is already a file (EML, MSG or MBOX), SaveMail renders it in your browser and you save it the same way, with attachments listed. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.

Two ways to turn an email into a PDF

There are only two real paths. The first is the print dialog built into your mail client: every browser and operating system can "print" to a PDF file instead of paper. The second is a file: you download the message as an EML or MSG file and convert that file to PDF. The print path is fastest for one message; the file path is better when you need the attachments and the full headers in one place, or when someone sent you the email as a file.

A PDF made through the print dialog keeps the text as text, not as a picture. That is why you can search it later and why it stays small. Screenshots do neither. Whichever path you use, check the first and last page before you file it: long threads sometimes get cut on the right edge when the layout is wider than the page, and the fix is the scale setting in the print dialog.

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

How to save an email as a PDF in each client

The menu names differ, but the sequence is the same: open the message, find Print, choose PDF as the destination.

Full walkthroughs with screenshots-level detail live on save Gmail as PDF, save an Outlook email as PDF, Mac and iPhone.

Step by step: print to PDF from any mail client

1. Open the single message you want. For a whole thread in Gmail, expand every reply first; collapsed replies print as one line.
2. Press Ctrl+P (Windows) or Cmd+P (Mac), or use the Print item in the message menu.
3. In the print dialog set the destination or printer to Save as PDF, Microsoft Print to PDF, or the PDF button on a Mac.
4. Check the preview. Turn off headers and footers if you do not want the browser's date and URL on each page; set scale to fit if a wide table is cut.
5. Save. Name the file with the date and subject so it sorts correctly in a folder.

This gives you one PDF per message. Attachments are not inside it: they are separate files and have to be downloaded on their own, which is covered in save an email with attachments.

How to convert an email file to PDF with SaveMail

If you have the email as a file, you do not need Outlook or any desktop install. SaveMail reads EML, MSG and MBOX files directly in the browser tab with JavaScript; there is no upload endpoint, so the message never leaves your computer.

1. Open the converter and drop the file on the page, or pick it with the file button.
2. The message renders as a clean page: From, To, Cc, Date, Subject and Message-ID, then the body with inline images, then the list of attachments with names and sizes.
3. Optional: switch on compact mode to hide quoted replies and signatures for a shorter PDF.
4. Press Save as PDF. The browser's print dialog opens; page size and margins come from that dialog. Text stays selectable and searchable.
5. Download attachments one by one or all of them as a ZIP.

For an MBOX export from Google Takeout, the tool lists every message inside and lets you open and save each one; see MBOX to PDF. Single-message formats are covered on EML to PDF and MSG to PDF.

How to email a PDF once you have it

Half the searches around this topic are really about sending: you have a PDF and want it in someone's inbox. Compose a new message, use the paperclip (Attach) button, pick the PDF, and send. Gmail accepts attachments up to about 25 MB and Outlook.com up to about 20 MB; above that, both offer a link from Google Drive or OneDrive instead. If you are sending the email you just saved, attach the PDF and the original attachments separately, or attach the EML file so the recipient gets everything in one container. The details, including what "embed a PDF in the body" really means, are on send a PDF by email.

What a PDF cannot do, and what to use instead

• One PDF per message. Neither the print dialog nor SaveMail merges a whole mailbox into a single PDF. For an MBOX you repeat Save as PDF per message.
• PST and OST files cannot be read in a browser. Export messages from Outlook as .msg or .eml first; see PST to PDF.
• Encrypted mail (S/MIME, PGP) is shown as encrypted, not decrypted.
• No editing. The PDF reflects the message as received; you cannot change the content before saving.
• No PDF button that skips the dialog. The PDF is produced by the browser's own Save as PDF, so the dialog is part of the flow.

For long-term archives, keep the original EML or MSG next to the PDF. The file holds the raw headers and the attachments; the PDF is the readable copy. The reasoning is laid out in the email archiving guide.

Frequently asked questions