How do I save a webpage as a PDF file?

April 16, 2007 9:44 AM

How do I save a webpage as a PDF file in Firefox or Internet Explorer?

I'm not talking about printing to PDF, where I send up with a different looking thing (because of a print.css file) with page breaks, but a real "Save as PDF" function. There are several ways to do this on Mac OS X but I need a Windows solution.

posted by DuckFOO to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

I've had good luck with PDF Creator.
posted by meowzilla at 9:56 AM on April 16, 2007

I have to routinely save web pages in PDF format at my job. This is my method:

On the web page, hit ctrl+a to select all. Ctrl+c to copy. Open MS FrontPage, paste, save as html file. Right click on the html file and choose "convert to adobe PDF".

Obviously you'll need FrontPage installed. I'm using Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional; I don't know if it'll work with other versions.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:01 AM on April 16, 2007

Install a 'PDF printer'... it's a printer driver that outputs to a PDF file instead of to your printer. You can use it in any program and make a PDF of anything you can normally send to a printer. There are dozens of free options; I use PrimoPDF wthout hassle.

On preview, the 'PDF Creator' meowzilla linked to is the same sort of deal.
posted by foobario at 11:17 AM on April 16, 2007

PDF995 is doing an excellent job for me, even though it is "Print to PDF"
posted by rom1 at 11:29 AM on April 16, 2007

Adding another to the list--the one I've always used:

CutePDF Writer
posted by NYScott at 11:29 AM on April 16, 2007

CutePDF Writer (free) -- just like PDF Creator and PrimoPDF above.
posted by Hankins at 11:29 AM on April 16, 2007

(beaten to the punch and didn't even see your 'no pdf printer' stipulation-- i suck today.)
posted by Hankins at 11:32 AM on April 16, 2007

print to a pdf printer ... however some long lines and/or RH Frames may get chopped off if the HTML formatting is crap.

J
posted by jannw at 11:56 AM on April 16, 2007

Use a Mozilla add-on to save the webpage as an image. Then use the Print to PDF function above (I've used CutePDF before Adobe) to print the image to a PDF.
posted by ejaned8 at 12:28 PM on April 16, 2007

Print to PDF is probably your best option. I recommend doPDF
posted by tradeyourselfin at 5:07 PM on April 16, 2007

You gotta try PrimoPDF. We evaluated at least fifty different ways to do this, and our IT staff decided that PrimoPDF was the solution.
Plus, you can't beat the price.
posted by crazyray at 5:50 PM on April 16, 2007

Response by poster: ejaned8:

I sometimes use Pearl Crescent Page Saver if I need an image but the best thing about saving as PDF is that you can search for text in PDF. You can't do this with an image file.
posted by DuckFOO at 4:20 AM on April 17, 2007

There might be a greasemonkey script somewhere out there that allows you to turn off the print css file (if that's what the site is using). I couldn't find one on a quick search, but it might be worth a second look.
posted by ejaned8 at 1:56 PM on April 17, 2007