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“Yesterday, I was trying to save Outlook emails as PDF on Mac just the way I save them on my Windows Outlook. But nothing happened. I used the options: Save, Save As, and Print but nothing helped. Can you suggest some solutions?”
Mac Outlook uses OLM files to store data, such as mailboxes, attachments, tasks, calendars, etc. You might often need to share email messages with others for several purposes. However, these emails do not just store general inquiries or progress status but can also include sensitive information about your organization. Converting emails to PDFs prevents data manipulation, as it sends the email messages with read-only access, which is a safer option for sharing emails.
Why Convert Outlook Mac Emails to PDF Format?
Here, we have outlined the major reasons why users need to convert their Outlook emails to PDF format, which are as follows:
- PDF files do not depend on hardware, software, and operating systems as they exhibit the documents in electronic format.
- Adobe PDF is a free application compared to Outlook.
- Provides enhanced security to PDF files by enabling passwords.
- Security settings keep updating at regular intervals, so users need to grant permission to edit or print files.
Before Exporting Emails Ask Few Questions
When you try to save your email from Outlook Mac to a PDF file, here are some questions that you must answer first. This will help you in understanding the need for conversion and identify a suitable solution.
- What is the current version of your Outlook application?
- Are you trying to export a specific email or an entire mailbox?
- Have you saved emails in other file formats earlier?
- Do you need the attachments too, or are text messages sufficient?
- Is Outlook updated to its latest edition or are there pending updates?
- Have you updated your Mac OS version recently?
- Have you tried saving emails to PDF and received an error?
These basic questions will help you understand what you need for the process and how to avoid errors (if any) encountered when trying to save the emails.
How to Save Outlook Emails as PDF on Mac Devices?
Here, we’ve provided both the manual and professional methods to save Outlook emails on Mac as PDF. So, go through the methods for resolution.
Save Outlook Emails as PDF on Mac Manually
It is one of the methods that you can use to save Outlook emails as PDF on a MAC system. If you’re looking for a manual way to do the same thing, you must follow the steps below:
- First, Open the MAC Outlook application and select the mail you want to convert into PDF format.

- After that, right-click on the specific mail and click the Print option.

- Now, choose the PDF option and click the Save as PDF option.

- Finally, save the PDF emails after providing the destination location.

This method is preferred for converting a few Outlook emails to PDF, as it involves the one-by-one processing of emails. Also, this method is not completely reliable and has a chance of data loss and corruption. Hence, it is better to use the automated solution, a safer and more reliable option to save Outlook emails in PDF format.
No Outlook? Here’s What You Can Do Next
It can often happen that you don’t have Outlook credentials and the files are offline within your local storage. In such cases, you need a different approach to save Outlook emails in PDF. As OLM files cannot be opened directly in outlook, you can also try Kernel Mac OLM Converter that can be used to work with OLM files and export mailbox data in different formats as well.
Wrapping Up
With the methods explained above you can save Outlook emails as PDF on Mac. You can choose the best suited method based on your requirements but also consider factors such as outlook accessibility, location of Mac Outlook OLM files and the format you want to convert.
Frequently Asked Questions
A. Execute the following steps on your Outlook for Mac:
1) Open the desired mail in Outlook and press ⌘ (command) + Shift + 4.
2) Drag the email selection lines to highlight and release to take a screenshot.
3) Double-click to open the screenshot in the Preview app.
4) Go to File > Export as PDF and provide a saving destination. Click Save.
A. No, with the manual methods, only the email text messages are saved to a PDF file. For saving the attachments, manually download them one-by-one to your computer.
