One of the requests we’ve had from some readers is the option to either print our articles, or to save them as a PDF. Well, we’re pleased to say that we now offer this facility to readers, and almost every post now has a “print” button in it. This lets you get the post in a format that is friendly to print without images, photos, or ads.
Nearly every modern browser also lets you use this print facility to save the webpage as a PDF, a process I will walk you through now.
The first step is to go to the article you want to print. Then click the printer button icon either on the sidebar or at the very end of the article. Then you’ll need to put in your first name and email address (e-mail needs to match your subscriber email).
Note that the printer-friendly and PDF friendly article versions are only available to our monthly newsletters subscribers. If you are not a subscriber, it is free and easy to join, and you can learn more and sign up here.
Now, the next steps will depend on the kind of device you are using.
Saving a webpage as a PDF on a Desktop Computer or Laptop
When you have a webpage loaded that you want to print, the easiest way to print it is to use the keyboard shortcut “Control (Ctrl)+P” if you are on a Windows computer, or “Command (cmd)+P” on a Mac.
When you hit this key combination, a print window will appear. There should be a drop-down menu with the option to select a destination. This will usually default to the printer you normally print your documents, however you should also be able to change this to “Save as PDF”. The wording might vary depending on your browser and operating system, however there should be an option with “PDF” somewhere in the wording, and that’s the one you want to use.
If you choose this option and press “Save”, a dialog will appear asking you where you want to save the document, and this will save it as a PDF for you.
The above instructions should work on various browsers. If you have a choice of Internet browsers, we’d suggest using Google Chrome as in our experience it offers the easiest “save to PDF” functionality.
Saving a webpage as a PDF on a Smartphone
You can also save a webpage as a PDF on a smartphone.
The exact steps will vary depending on the smartphone you have, and the version of Android or iOS it is running. We would again advise using the Google Chrome browser for mobile as it has a simple PDF saving option.
On Android, you simply open the webpage you want to save in Google Chrome, and then press the three dots at the top right of the screen. From the drop down, you might have a “print” button, in which case you can use that, and then choose the option to “Save as PDF”.
If you don’t have a print button, press the “Share” button instead. One of the options that pops up in the share dialog will be “Chrome Print”. Again, there will be a dropdown here where you can choose a “Save as PDF” function.
Hopefully this quick guide gives you some tips for how to save a webpage as a PDF file using your browsers built in PDF printing functionality! If you are having problems or have any questions, feel free to contact us.