How to Save a Google Doc as a PDF on Any Device
Published by PDFToolz · Updated · Technical references listed below
To save a Google Doc as a PDF, open the document and click File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf). The PDF downloads to your computer straight away, with the page size, margins and page breaks set in the document's page setup.
That covers most cases. This guide also shows how to print to PDF when a large document won't download, how to get a PDF from the Google Docs app on Android and iPhone, how to email a PDF or share a PDF link, and how to fix missing tabs, odd page breaks and shrunk images.
How to save a Google Doc as a PDF on a computer
These steps work in any browser on Windows, Mac, Linux or a Chromebook.
- Open the document in Google Docs.
- Click File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf).
- If the document uses tabs, a dialog opens with Current tab selected. To include every tab, click Tab > All tabs, then click Export.
- Find the PDF in your browser's downloads, usually your Downloads folder. It has the document's name.
- Open it and check the page breaks and margins before you send it.
Print to PDF instead
Printing to PDF gives the same pages as downloading, and it is the route Google's help gives for downloading a large document as a PDF in Chrome. It also lets you pick which tabs to include before the PDF is made.
- Click File > Print. If the document has tabs, choose Print current tab or Print all tabs.
- In Chrome's print window, set Destination to Save as PDF.
- Click Save and choose where to keep the file.
- In Firefox or Safari, File > Print downloads a PDF of the document automatically. That file is your PDF.
How to save a Google Doc as a PDF on Android or iPhone
The Google Docs app can export to PDF on both Android and iPhone. The export options sit under Share & export in the document's More menu, shown as three dots. The labels there differ a little between Android and iPhone and between app versions, so look for the option to save or send a copy, then pick PDF.
Google documents a print route for both systems. Open the document and tap More > Share & export > Print. On Android, tap Select printer and choose Save as PDF instead of a printer. On iPhone, pinch out on the page preview in the print screen to open it full size, tap Share and choose Save to Files.
If the app's options don't fit, open docs.google.com in your phone's browser, request the desktop site if your browser allows it and use File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf).
Save the PDF to Google Drive
The Docs menus on a computer download the PDF to your device. They don't put a copy in Drive. To keep the PDF in Drive, upload it once it is downloaded.
- Download the PDF with File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf).
- In Google Drive, open the folder you want and click New > File upload, or drag the PDF into the window.
- The PDF is a separate file. Later edits to the Google Doc don't change it, so download and upload a new PDF when the document changes, or share a PDF link instead.
Fix page breaks, margins and page size before you save
The PDF copies the document's page setup, so fix layout problems in Docs first. Many problems come from the pageless format, which scrolls without page breaks. Paper size, margins, orientation, page breaks, headers, footers and page numbers only work in pages format. When a pageless document is printed or saved as a PDF, images are resized to fit the page width and wide tables are squeezed to fit.
- To switch to pages format, click File > Page setup and select Pages, or click Format > Switch to Pages format.
- Set paper size, margins and orientation in File > Page setup. Choose A4 or Letter to match where the PDF will be printed. Click Set as default to use the same settings for new documents.
- Force a new page with Insert > Break > Page break. To keep a heading with its text, click into the heading and use Format > Line & paragraph spacing > Add page break before.
- For one landscape page in a portrait document, add Insert > Break > Section break (next page) before and after it, then in File > Page setup set Apply to to This section and choose Landscape.
- Remove blank pages by deleting empty lines or extra page breaks at the end of the previous page.
Common problems and how to fix them
Check the PDF once before sending it. These are the usual faults.
- Only part of the document is in the PDF. The document has tabs, and the download defaulted to the current tab. Download again and choose All tabs.
- Headers, footers, watermarks or footnotes show up that you can't see in Docs. The document was in pages format before it was switched to pageless, and those elements still print. Switch back to pages format to edit or remove them.
- Images or tables look shrunk. The document is pageless, so they were resized to fit the page. Switch to pages format and resize them yourself.
- The download is slow or fails on a large document. Use File > Print with Destination set to Save as PDF.
- The PDF is too big to email or upload. Run it through Compress PDF, or Compress PDF to Size for a hard limit such as 2 MB.
- The page size is wrong for printing. Change Paper size in File > Page setup and save the PDF again.
Merge, compress or protect the PDF
Once you have the PDF, these PDFToolz tools run in your browser, so the file is not uploaded to a server.
- Merge PDF combines several saved documents, such as a cover letter and a resume, into one file in the order you choose. Each file gets its own bookmark.
- Compress PDF makes the file smaller. Light and Recommended keep text selectable. Extreme turns pages into images for the smallest file.
- Compress PDF to Size tries quality levels until the file fits a target such as 100 KB, 500 KB or 1 MB.
- Protect PDF adds a password before you send a document with personal details.
Key takeaways
- ✓To save a Google Doc as a PDF, click File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf).
- ✓For large documents in Chrome, use File > Print and set Destination to Save as PDF.
- ✓On Android and iPhone, use More > Share & export in the Google Docs app, or print to PDF.
- ✓Email a PDF with File > Email > Email this file, or share a link ending in export?format=pdf.
- ✓Fix page breaks and margins in pages format before you save, and choose All tabs if the document uses tabs.
Tools for the job
Frequently asked questions
How do I save a Google Doc as a PDF?
Open the document and click File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf). The PDF downloads to your computer. If the document has tabs, click Tab > All tabs in the dialog to include every tab, then click Export.
How do I save a Google Doc as a PDF on my phone?
In the Google Docs app, open the document, tap the three-dot More menu, then Share & export, and look for the option to save or send a copy as PDF. You can also tap Print. On Android, choose Save as PDF as the printer. On iPhone, pinch out on the preview, tap Share and choose Save to Files.
How do I save a Google Doc as a PDF in Google Drive?
Download the PDF with File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf), then upload it to Drive with New > File upload. The PDF is a separate copy, so it doesn't update when you edit the document.
How do I email a Google Doc as a PDF?
Click File > Email > Email this file, enter the recipients, choose PDF as the file type and click Send. Docs attaches a PDF of the document, so you don't need to download it first.
Why does my Google Doc PDF have the wrong page breaks?
The PDF copies the document's page setup. If the document is pageless, switch to pages format with File > Page setup, then add breaks with Insert > Break > Page break and remove extra empty lines that push text onto blank pages.
Why is only part of my Google Doc in the PDF?
The document uses tabs, and Docs downloads the current tab by default. Download again and click Tab > All tabs in the dialog, or use File > Print and pick Print all tabs.
Related terms
Sources and further reading
- Create, view, or download a file from Google Docs Editors Help
- Print a file from Google Docs Editors Help
- Print a file on Android from Google Docs Editors Help
- Use document tabs in Google Docs from Google Docs Editors Help
- Change a document's page setup: pages or pageless from Google Docs Editors Help
- Change page settings on Google Docs from Google Docs Editors Help
- Add page breaks and move margins from Google Docs Editors Help
- Tips to share your files from Google Workspace Learning Center
- Send attachments with your Gmail message from Gmail Help
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