How to Save and Print an Outlook Email to Adobe PDF with Attachments?

Emails are a significant element of our everyday communications, both personally and professionally, but especially professionally. Whether it is a business dialogue, contract negotiations, or client communications, many of the emails we receive we want to keep for our records. One common way to efficiently and professionally store emails is to save the email or print it as a PDF file.

While there are benefits to saving emails to an Outlook folder, using a file as a PDF means it will be easy to share, won't be easily edited, and, in most official or legal environments, a PDF is an accepted format. If there is ever a situation to prove an email correspondence for compliance purposes or record-keeping, saving the email and attachments as a PDF file is an efficient way to store email correspondence.

This guide provides a brief explanation of how to save and print an Outlook Email to Adobe PDF with Attachments and gives easy steps. No jargon terms, no complicated explanations. Just simple and concise steps.

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Why Save Outlook Emails as PDF?

Before we get into the breakdown of steps, let’s take a moment to understand how saving your emails as a PDF would be beneficial:

For Legal or Compliance Purposes: PDF is a widely accepted format for official documents and is the best way to retain communication.

Easy to Save - Share, Store, and Delete: A PDF file collapses files down and can be opened on any device.

Permanent File Format: PDF files are a permanent file format, meaning you cannot delete or lose the information in a PDF.

Better Organization: Potentially, you could keep all of your emails, as well as attachments, in one folder, or maybe on a hard drive.

Procedure Method 1: Save an Outlook Email as a PDF Manually

If you are just looking to save one or a few emails, you can utilize either of Outlook's built-in methods outlined below to save as a PDF:

Open Email in Outlook

Open Outlook on your computer and navigate to the email that you want to preserve.

Select File > Print

Click on File, which is in the top left, and then click Print.

Select "Microsoft Print to PDF" for Printer

Select Microsoft Print to PDF from the Printer options instead of your normal printer.

Click Print

Once you click "Print," a dialog will pop up asking where you want to save the file.

Choose a folder and name the file

Choose a folder, type a name for the file, and click Save.

The email will now be saved as a PDF on your computer.

Note: This only saves the email body, not any attachments. If attachments need to be saved, they need to be saved separately.

Method 2: Saving Email with Attachments

If you want to retain attachments with your email, it is possible to save these manually using Outlook. Here's how:

Open the Email With the Attachments

Log in to Outlook and open an email that includes attachments.

Download the Attachments

Right-click one of the attachments and select Save All Attachments. When you're asked to select a folder to save these attachments to, choose an appropriate folder.

Save the Email As PDF (following the Steps from Method 1 above)

Now that you have downloaded the attachments, you can follow the same steps you already learned about printing the email to a PDF file.

Keep the Attachments in the Same Folder

Now store your saved PDF in the same folder as the attachments you downloaded. This way, it will be easy to locate both at a later date.

While this is a good method if you want to preserve the entire email record for compliance purposes, it can be time-consuming if there are many emails.

Method 3: Use the Save As feature in Outlook

You can also convert an email to a file that can then be saved as a PDF with Outlook’s “Save As” option.

Open the email

In Outlook, double-click to open the email.

Click File > Save As

Select Save As from the menu.

Select “HTML”

Save as HTML (a web page format)

Open in your browser

Locate that file and open it in Chrome or Edge.

Print to PDF from the browser

Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) and select Save as PDF, then click Save.

While this method is a bit cumbersome, It gets the job done when you do not have the “Print to PDF” option readily available in Outlook.

Method 4: Automatically Print an Outlook Email to Adobe PDF with Attachments

If you have hundreds of emails or if you need to save entire mailboxes for compliance, doing this manually can take hours. This is where a dedicated email-to-PDF tool can save the day.

One such dependable option you will want to consider is the Softaken PST to PDF Converter. This software allows you to save and print an Outlook Email to Adobe PDF, attachments included.

It is particularly Useful for:

• You need to preserve or distribute groups of Outlook emails in an accessible format.
• You want attachments to automatically be included (without the necessity of saving each item.)
• You are developing your email records to support compliance audits.

Once you open the tool, add the desired Outlook PST file, and the emails you want to convert; the tool does the rest—saving both the converted emails and attachments as formatted PDF documents.

Why consider it? It saves time, avoids human errors, and ensures all elements of the emails headers, attachments, and formatting are preserved.

Practical Considerations for Email Compliance

When you initiate email management for compliance purposes, think beyond the file format—the following are a few other steps to ensure the record is organized:

• Emails should be packaged in a date order. Store or stack the PDFs into folders organized by either project name or by month.
• When possible, include metadata in the name (e.g., sender, recipient, and date).
• Consistent Backups: Always maintain a backup copy of your PDFs saved in cloud storage or an external drive.
• Use Consistent Naming: For example, “ClientName_Project_EmailDate.pdf” will make finding the document easy later.

These habits will streamline the compliance check process.

Final thoughts

Saving or printing emails from Outlook to PDF format is a great way to save important emails. Whether it is for compliance, legal or just to keep things organized, PDF is a very easy format to save and share information.

If you are only converting a couple of emails, the built-in options in Outlook is sufficient. If you have volume and/or attachments, an automated solution like Softaken PST to PDF Converter will save hours of manual work.