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Save emails as PDF files in Outlook: a step-by-step guide

Author Siluvia Last modified

Saving important emails as PDF files can be highly beneficial for archiving, sharing, or legal documentation purposes. Microsoft Outlook does not have a direct option to save emails as PDF, but there are several methods you can use to achieve this. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to save emails as PDF files in Outlook.

Save an email as PDF file using Print feature

Save selected emails as PDF file using VBA code

Save selected emails as PDF file or other file formats using Kutools for Outlook

Save an email as PDF file using Print feature

If you just want to save one email as PDF file, the Print feature can help you.

1. Select the email that you want to save as PDF file.

2. Click on "File" > "Print".

3. In the Printer dropdown menu, select "Microsoft Print to PDF", and click "Print".

save an email as pdf file using print feature 1

4. In the" Save Print Output As" window, choose the destination folder, enter the file name, and click "Save".

save an email as pdf file using print feature 2

Save selected emails as PDF file using VBA code

1. Firstly you should select the email that you want to save as PDF.

2. Press "Alt + F11" to launch the "Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications" window.

3. Click "Insert" > "Module", then copy and paste the following VBA code to the Module window.

save an email as pdf file using vba 1

The VBA code of saving email as PDF file

Sub SaveAsPDFfile()
Dim MyOlNamespace As NameSpace
Dim MySelectedItem As MailItem
Dim Response As String
Dim FSO As Object, TmpFolder As Object
Dim tmpFileName As String
Dim wrdApp As Object
Dim wrdDoc As Object
Dim bStarted As Boolean
Dim dlgSaveAs As FileDialog
Dim fdfs As FileDialogFilters
Dim fdf As FileDialogFilter
Dim i As Integer
Dim WshShell As Object
Dim SpecialPath As String
Dim msgFileName As String
Dim strCurrentFile As String
Dim strName As String
Dim oRegEx As Object
Dim intPos As Long
Set MyOlNamespace = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set MySelectedItem = ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
tmpFileName = FSO.GetSpecialFolder(2)
strName = "email_temp.mht"
tmpFileName = tmpFileName & "\" & strName
MySelectedItem.SaveAs tmpFileName, 10
On Error Resume Next
Set wrdApp = GetObject(, "Word.Application")
If Err Then
Set wrdApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
bStarted = True
End If
On Error GoTo 0
Set wrdDoc = wrdApp.Documents.Open(FileName:=tmpFileName, Visible:=False, Format:=7)
Set dlgSaveAs = wrdApp.FileDialog(msoFileDialogSaveAs)
Set fdfs = dlgSaveAs.Filters
i = 0
For Each fdf In fdfs
i = i + 1
If InStr(1, fdf.Extensions, "pdf", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
Exit For
End If
Next fdf
dlgSaveAs.FilterIndex = i
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
SpecialPath = WshShell.SpecialFolders(16)
msgFileName = MySelectedItem.Subject
Set oRegEx = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
oRegEx.Global = True
oRegEx.Pattern = "[\/:*?""<>|]"
msgFileName = Trim(oRegEx.Replace(msgFileName, ""))
dlgSaveAs.InitialFileName = SpecialPath & "\" & msgFileName
If dlgSaveAs.Show = -1 Then
strCurrentFile = dlgSaveAs.SelectedItems(1)
If Right(strCurrentFile, 4) <> ".pdf" Then
Response = MsgBox("Sorry, only saving in the pdf-format is supported." & _
vbNewLine & vbNewLine & "Save as pdf instead?", vbInformation + vbOKCancel)
If Response = vbCancel Then
wrdDoc.Close 0
If bStarted Then wrdApp.Quit
Exit Sub
ElseIf Response = vbOK Then
intPos = InStrRev(strCurrentFile, ".")
If intPos > 0 Then
strCurrentFile = Left(strCurrentFile, intPos - 1)
End If
strCurrentFile = strCurrentFile & ".pdf"
End If
End If
wrdApp.ActiveDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat OutputFileName:= _
strCurrentFile, _
ExportFormat:=17, _
OpenAfterExport:=False, _
OptimizeFor:=0, _
Range:=0, _
From:=0, _
To:=0, _
Item:=0, _
IncludeDocProps:=True, _
KeepIRM:=True, _
CreateBookmarks:=0, _
DocStructureTags:=True, _
BitmapMissingFonts:=True, _
UseISO19005_1:=False
End If
Set dlgSaveAs = Nothing
wrdDoc.Close
If bStarted Then wrdApp.Quit
Set MyOlNamespace = Nothing
Set MySelectedItem = Nothing
Set wrdDoc = Nothing
Set wrdApp = Nothing
Set oRegEx = Nothing
End Sub

Note: This VBA code have successfully tested in Outlook 2007 and 2010

4. Click save an email as pdf file using vba 2 to run the code.

5. There will be a "File Save" dialog popping up while the code is running. Select a path to save the file, name it, and finally click on "Save" button.

save an email as pdf file using vba 3

6. When the code finish running, the email have successfully converted to pdf file.

Save selected emails as PDF file or other file formats using Kutools for Outlook

With "Kutools for Outlook" installed, you can use its "Save Selected Emails as Files in Various Formats like PDF" utility to quickly save or export the selected emails to PDF files/Excel files/CSV files or other file formats.

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1. In an email folder, select the messages you want to save as PDF, click "Kutools" > "Save Selected Emails as Files in Various Formats like PDF".

2. In the "Save Messages as Other Files" dialog, select a path to place the new files, check "PDF format", and you can specify the "Save content" as you need.

save an email as pdf file using kutools for outlook 1

3. Click "Ok". Then the selected emails have been saved as PDF files individually.

save an email as pdf file using kutools for outlook 2

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