When collaborating with colleagues or sending reports to clients, sharing your Microsoft Excel workbook as a PDF is often the safest choice. A PDF ensures that your formatting, charts, and data remain intact regardless of the recipient’s operating system or software version, and it prevents accidental edits to your underlying formulas. While many users save a copy locally and then attach it to an email manually, Excel provides a built-in feature to streamline this process directly from the desktop app.
Why Use the Built-in Sharing Feature?
Bypassing the manual “Save As PDF” and email attachment workflow saves time, reduces desktop clutter (since you do not have to generate a temporary local PDF file), and ensures you are sending the exact version currently on your screen. This is particularly useful for generating quick invoices, expense reports, or daily dashboards.
How to Email an Excel Workbook as a PDF
To use this feature, you must have a default email client configured on your computer (such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail). Web-based email clients like Gmail run in a browser and cannot intercept this specific desktop command automatically.
- Open the Microsoft Excel workbook you wish to share.
- Ensure the worksheet you want to convert to PDF is formatted correctly for printing. (Excel converts the active sheets to PDF based on your current Print Area settings).
- Click the File tab in the top-left corner of the ribbon.
- From the left-hand navigation menu, select Share.
- In the Share pane, click on the option labelled Send a Copy (in some versions, this may just say Email).
- Select the PDF button.
- Excel will automatically convert the workbook into a PDF document and open a new email draft in your default desktop email client. The PDF will already be attached.
- Simply enter the recipient’s email address, add a subject line and message body, and click send.
Important Considerations
By default, this method typically converts the entire workbook (all active worksheets) into a single PDF document. If your workbook contains sensitive raw data on hidden sheets or scratchpads you do not wish to share, you should use the standard File > Export > Create PDF/XPS Document method instead. The Export dialog allows you to click an “Options” button and strictly limit the PDF conversion to the “Active sheet(s)” or a specific “Selection,” giving you greater control over what is included in the final document.