How to save an email as a PDF (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail)
Save any email as a PDF in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail, on a computer or phone. Plus a better way to keep marketing emails you want again.
TLDR
- Every mail app can do it through Print, then Save as PDF. Apple Mail also has File → Export as PDF.
- On a phone, use Print, then share the preview to Files.
- A PDF is a fine receipt. It’s a bad swipe file: the links die, the layout squashes, and you can’t search 300 of them by sender.
Gmail, on a computer
- Open the email.
- Click the printer icon at the top right of the message (it says Print all).
- In the print window, set Destination to Save as PDF.
- Click Save.
For one message in a long thread, click the three dots next to that message and pick Print instead.
Outlook
Outlook on the web and the new Outlook for Windows: open the email, click the three dots (More actions), pick Print, then Print again, and choose Save as PDF (or Microsoft Print to PDF) as the printer.
Classic Outlook for Windows: open the email, go to File → Print, pick Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer, and click Print. It asks where to save.
Outlook for Mac: File → Print, then the PDF dropdown at the bottom left, then Save as PDF.
Apple Mail
- Open the email.
- File → Export as PDF…
- Pick a folder and save.
That’s the cleanest of the lot, no print dialog involved.
On an iPhone or Android
iPhone (Mail or Gmail app): open the email, tap the reply arrow (Mail) or the three dots (Gmail), and pick Print. On the preview, tap the share icon and choose Save to Files.
Android (Gmail app): open the email, tap the three dots, pick Print, and set the printer to Save as PDF.
When a PDF is the wrong answer
If you’re saving a receipt, a contract or a flight confirmation, stop here. A PDF is perfect.
If you’re saving marketing emails because they’re good (the welcome series, the cart reminder, the launch email), a folder of PDFs gets useless fast:
- The layout breaks. Print styles squash a 600px email into A4 with the images in odd places.
- Links stop mattering. You can’t click through to see where the CTA went.
- You can’t search by what matters. Sender, subject line, preheader, the tool it was sent with. File names like
Print - Gmail.pdfdon’t help.
For those, forward them somewhere built for emails. In Savepad you get your own address: forward the email (or add +welcome to file it into a folder), and it’s saved as the email itself, with the sender, subject, preheader and sending tool pulled out and the tracking pixels stripped. Every word is searchable.
That’s how you build an email swipe file. If you want somewhere to start filling it, the welcome email examples are a good first folder, and you can check how your own subject line reads with the subject line preview.