Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) Creation

Owned by David Blood
Last updated: Jul 25, 2023 by Gerald Meade
3 min read





Print Shortcuts

Press cmd + P (macOS) or ctrl + P (Windows) to open the printing window.

macOS Steps

  1. Open the document that you wish to make a PDF of (this will work in any application, for example Microsoft Word or Safari, that can print).

  2. Click on the "File" menu and select "Print".

  3. In the window that appears, click on the "PDF" button in the lower left hand corner of the Print window.

  4. Select "Save as PDF..."  and create a name for your file in the "Save As:" field.

  5. Select the location where you would like to save the PDF.

  6. Click on the "Save" button.

Windows Steps

  1. Open the document that you wish to make a PDF of (this will work in any desktop application, for example Microsoft Word or Firefox, that can print).

  2. Click on the "File" menu and select "Print".

  3. In the window that appears, click in the drop down box under "Printer" and select "Microsoft Print to PDF" from the list.

  4. Click "Print".

  5. A window titled "Save Print Output As" should open. In the box next to "File name:", enter a name for your file.

  6. Select the location where you would like to save the PDF.

  7. Click on the "Save" button.

Chromium Based Web Browser Steps

What's Special About a Chromium Based Browser?

Chromium based web browsers (Google Chrome, the new Microsoft Edge, etc.) have a built in feature for printing to PDF. For non-Chromium based browsers (Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, the old Microsoft Edge), use the steps for your operating system detailed above.

  1. Open the document, file or website that you wish to turn into a PDF.

  2. Click on the the three dots in the upper right corner of the screen and select "Print".

  3. In the window that appears, click in the drop down box next to "Destination" (Chrome) or under "Printer" (new Edge) and select "Save as PDF" from the list.

  4. Click "Print".

  5. A new window should open or drop down. Create a name for your file in the "Save As:" field that appears.

  6. Select the location where you would like to save the PDF.

  7. Click on the "Save" button.

Notes

  • Some applications, such as Microsoft Word, may have the option to save the file directly as a PDF. Select "Save As" and in the dialogue that appears, change the file format by selecting ".pdf" from the drop down list.

  • Google Apps such as Docs or Slides have the option to download files as PDFs. Open the file you want to download, click "File", find "Download" in the list, and select "PDF Document (.pdf)".

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