Did you know that any application capable of printing can generate a PDF instead? You don’t even need a printer.
The Mac’s underlying ability to display still graphics on the screen has always been based on the Adobe PDF standard. Thanks to Apple’s design ingenuity, macOS has included PDF functions in the Print dialog since 2005.
Save as PDF on Mac
On a Mac, in any application with a Print command, there’s an option to Save as PDF. That is, as per usual, start by choosing File > Print or press Command+P.
In most applications, you’ll find a PDF button and popup menu in the bottom left corner of the dialog. You may be able to simply click “PDF” and get a save dialog where you specify the name and place to save the file.
You can also click the menu for additional options, such as to open a PDF in Preview. This can serve as an effective way to preview a document full screen — compared to the tiny thumbnails that may appear on the left — before saving or printing.
In some applications, such as Google Chrome and other browsers based on it, Save as PDF appears in the top right, in the same popup menu where you select a printer. When selected, the Print button changes to Save.
When faced with this less familiar dialog, you may alternatively wish to use the “system dialog,” which you may prefer due to its ease of use and the number of options it offers. Look for this in More Settings or similar, or try pressing Command+Option+P.
Save to Files on Mobile
On iPhone and iPad, the ability to save a document as a PDF may be a little more hidden. (The ability to print is also a tad limited among mobile apps.) I mentioned it briefly in the context of Safari in Powerful Sharing.
The print command is usually in the Share sheet, because it’s what happens when you share a document with a printer. However, you’re ultimately looking for the Save to Files action. Just like on Mac, the easiest path to get there is through Print:
- In most apps, tap Share
. (In Mail, tap Reply 
.) - If you don’t see Save to Files in the list of actions, choose Print
- Tap Share at the top of the dialog
- Choose Save to Files in the list below
- Navigate to your destination and Save
If you decide to cancel, navigate all the way back to Browse and tap Cancel.
I mentioned a few of Preview’s capabilities for interacting with images in Preview Power. And, in Advancing PDF Productivity, I shared some enhancements to PDF interactions on mobile that gave it greater feature parity with Mac.
There are many more opportunities to manipulate PDF files, including annotation, signatures, filling forms, and rearranging pages. I’ll discuss some of these in future editions of Mac Mondays.
What else would you like to learn about PDFs? Sound off in the comments or email me.
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