How to Save a Webpage as a PDF in Google Chrome

There are countless reasons why you might need a permanent, offline copy of a webpage. You might need to save a receipt from an online purchase, archive a news article before it goes behind a paywall, or capture a set of instructions to view later when you have no internet access.

While you could bookmark the page, bookmarks are useless if the website goes offline or deletes the content. You could also take a screenshot, but screenshots cannot capture selectable text, and taking multiple screenshots of a long, scrolling article is frustrating. The most professional and reliable method is to save the entire webpage as a single PDF document directly from Google Chrome.

Using Chrome’s Built-in Print to PDF Tool

Google Chrome does not require you to install any third-party extensions to convert websites into PDFs. The functionality is built directly into the browser’s native printing system.

1. Open Google Chrome and navigate to the webpage you want to save.
2. Allow the page to load completely so all images and formatting are properly rendered.
3. Click the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner of the Chrome window.
4. From the drop-down menu, select Print… (Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + P on Windows or Command + P on a Mac).

The standard Chrome Print Preview window will open, displaying how the webpage will look when broken down into standard paper-sized pages.

Configuring the PDF Settings

By default, Chrome will try to send the document to your physical printer. You must redirect the output to a digital file.

1. In the Print Settings sidebar on the right, locate the Destination drop-down menu.
2. Click the menu and change the destination from your physical printer to Save as PDF.

Before saving, you can customize how the final PDF will look. Click the More settings drop-down to access advanced options:

• Pages: If a webpage has 10 pages of comments at the bottom that you do not want, you can change “All” to “Custom” and type “1-3” to only save the core article.
• Layout: You can switch the orientation from Portrait to Landscape, which is highly recommended when saving wide spreadsheets or complex data tables.
• Background graphics: By default, Chrome often strips out colored backgrounds to save printer ink. To ensure your PDF looks exactly like the actual website, check the box for Background graphics.
• Headers and footers: Uncheck this box if you want to remove the date, page titles, and URLs that Chrome automatically injects at the top and bottom of every page.

Finalizing the Save

Once the Print Preview on the left looks exactly how you want the document to appear:

1. Click the blue Save button at the bottom of the right-hand panel.
2. A standard file explorer window will open. Choose where on your computer you want to store the file (e.g., your Desktop or Documents folder).
3. Type a descriptive name for the file in the “File name” box.
4. Click Save.

Chrome will silently generate the document. You now possess a permanent, offline, high-quality PDF containing the exact state of that webpage, complete with selectable text and clickable hyperlinks.