How to Save a Web Page as a PDF in Safari

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Updated January 20, 2020

With Safari on the Mac, you can export any web page to a PDF file. You might want to do this if you plan on sharing the document with someone else and you want to make sure it looks identical to how you see it on the website.

Because the PDF format is operating system and hardware independent, any PDF file will look the exact same on every computer, tablet, phone, etc. It's also a really good alternative to printing the web page.

Instructions in this article apply to Safari 5 and later for both Mac and Windows.

How to Export a Web Page as a PDF in Safari

It just takes a few clicks to convert a web page to a PDF file with Safari.

Open the web page you want to save to PDF.
Go to the File menu and choose the Export as PDF... option.
In the new window that pops up, name the PDF file anything you want and choose where to save it.
Click Save to make the page into a PDF file.

How to 'Print' a PDF from a Website in Safari

Another way to save a web page as a PDF file is to "print" the page to PDF.

This feature is available in most web browsers.

Navigate to the page you want to save.
Select Print under the File menu.

The keyboard shortcut is Command+P.
Click the PDF pulldown menu in the lower-left corner of the print window.
Select Save as PDF.
Choose a name for your PDF and a location to save it.
Use the checkboxes on the right side of the screen to decide whether to include the site's backgrounds, headers, and footers in your PDF.
Click Save.

Make a Cleaner PDF in Safari

You can use Reader mode to strip out ads for a cleaner appearance. Reader isn't available for every website, but it makes sites easier to read and nicer to save.

Navigate to the site you want to save.
Choose Show Reader under the View menu or press Shift+Command+R on your keyboard.

If the Show Reader option is gray, it isn't available for the current page.
In earlier versions of Safari, activate Reading Mode by clicking the three-lined icon next to the URL.
A pared-down version of the page will open in Reader.
Use either method above to save the page as a PDF.