Microsoft Print to PDF – Should I Save Word or Excel to PDF in the Way
Last Updated on October 11, 2022 by Tina Clark
Microsoft Print to PDF is a frequently used method to create a PDF file out of your Microsoft files, such as Word, Excel, or even PowerPoint. It is a virtual printer only available on Windows 10/11 to grab any document and save it in PDF format. Should you save Word or Excel files to PDF in the way? Just learn more about how to use Microsoft Print to PDF, the detailed review, and its best alternative from the article.
Part 1: How to Use Microsoft Print to PDF
How to Install Microsoft Print to PDF on Windows
If you cannot save Word, Excel, or PowerPoint to PDF directly, you can install Microsoft Print to PDF and tweak the settings, especially for printing any page to a PDF-compatible document. Here is the detailed step to install Microsoft Print to PDF on Windows 11.
Step 1: Log in to the administrator account of your Windows 11 and open the Command Prompt from the Start menu. You need to open the Command Prompt app as an administrator.
Step 2: In the elevated Command Prompt window, you can enter the following command on the keyboard to stop any virtual print service before reinstalling the Microsoft Print to PDF.
net stop spooler
Step 3: Copy and paste the following command line to uninstall or disable the PDF printer feature completely. It is an essential process if you have installed the feature previously.
dism /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:"Printing-PrintToPDFServices-Features" /NoRestart
Step 4: After that, you can reinstall Microsoft Print to PDF on your Windows 11. Copy and paste the following command line to the Command Prompt window and press Enter from the keyboard.
dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:"Printing-PrintToPDFServices-Features" /NoRestart
Step 5: If you have installed Microsoft Print to PDF, you can start the print spooler service. Just use the following text to execute the command before pressing the Enter key on your keyboard.
net start spooler
Step 6: Press Ctrl + P on your keyboard to launch the virtual printer to find whether the Microsoft Print to PDF works now. After that, you can save Word or Excel as PDF documents.
How to Use Microsoft Print to PDF on Web Pages
Microsoft Print to PDF not only works on Office documents, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but it also saves any web page to a PDF document. When you need to save a scrolling webpage, you can learn more about the detailed process below.
Step 1: Open a web page with your web browser on your computer. Click the Settings and more button in the upper right corner. You can also right-click a place on your page and select Print from the list.
Step 2: On the popping-up window, enable the Microsoft Print to PDF feature on your web browser to select the Save as PDF option from the Printer drop-down menu accordingly.
Step 3: You can specify the PDF layout pattern, such as portrait or landscape, choose the desired pages you want to save as PDF, and you can save as the desired type of PDF.
Microsoft Office Documents Print to PDF - Word/Excel/PPT
When you need to make a PDF document, you can complete the document via Office PowerPoint, Excel, or Word beforehand. After that, you can use the Microsoft Print to PDF virtual printer to save it as a PDF.
Microsoft Print to PDF with Word
Step 1: Once you have finished the document, you can press Ctrl + P on your keyboard or click the Print button from the File menu.
Step 2: Head to the print window, you can click the drop-down menu under the Printer window, and from the options select Microsoft Print to PDF.
Step 3: Select other settings such as the number of pages. It will print Word to PDF and turn the Word file into PDF format.
Microsoft Print to PDF with Excel
Step 1: Click the File menu and choose the Print option, or press Ctrl + P on your keyboard to open the Print window.
Step 2: Choose Microsoft Print to PDF in the pop-up window and select it to your Excel spreadsheet to PDF.
Step 3: When you need to further adjust the parameters for the output PDF, you can simply click the Printer Properties link.
Microsoft Print to PDF with PowerPoint
Step 1: Select the desired PPT file you want to print, right-click and select the Print button from the drop-down menu.
Step 2: Choose Microsoft Print to PDF in the new window, and then you will create a PDF of your PowerPoint to save or print.
Step 3: To tweak the details for the PDF, click Show Details to display the PDF paper configuration accordingly.
Part 2: Should I Choose Microsoft Print to PDF
Pros:
1. Print intercepts the printer output from a program to make PDF files with a virtual printer instead.
2. Both Windows and Mac have in-built options to do this from any program, not just Office.
3. When you launch Microsoft Print to PDF, there is a prompt for a file name and folder to save the PDF.
Cons:
1. An apparent flaw is it can’t provide advanced options for users. You cannot combine PDFs, edit the content or print multiple web pages.
2. If you are using Windows 7 or 8, you can’t use the feature, unless you upgrade the operating system.
3. Once you have created a PDF in this way, you can’t edit it unless you use a third-party editing tool.
4. If you want to create a PDF out of all three-file formats, you have to create each one separately and then combine them with a third-party tool.
Part 3: The Best Microsoft Print to PDF Alternative
What should be the best alternative for Microsoft Print to PDF? Whether you need to save webpages, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, or other files to PDF, PDFelement is the versatile PDF converter and maker. Besides the converting features, you can manage the PDF pages, like combining different pages, splitting multiple files, and more. Moreover, you can also turn the PDF files you have created from Word/Excel into editable PDFs.
1. Create PDF from other files as the Microsoft Print to PDF alternative.
2. Adjust printer, print settings, page range, and more for saving as PDF.
3. Provide the editing features to add pictures, texts, annotations, etc.
4. Turn the PDF files created by Microsoft Print to PDF to editable ones.
Step 1: Download and install PDFelement, you can launch the program on your computer. Click the Open file option within the main user interface to make a PDF from Office documents, webpages, or even create a new PDF from scratch.
Step 2: Browse and select the file you want to turn into PDF and click the Open button to import the desired file. In the toolbar, select the Convert section from the drop-down menu. Select the To Word option from the drop-down menu to convert Microsoft Word to PDF.
Step 3: Instead of saving the Word to PDF, you can click the Perform OCR button. Select the PDF file's language source to aid with text recognition. It also enables you to recognize the forms of Excel to make the PDF editable and searchable accordingly.
Step 4: You can edit the PDF with annotations or manage the files. After that, you can click the Save button once you've selected the output folder for your Microsoft Word project. Then, you can simply select the View menu to view the editable Word document saved.
Part 4: FAQs about Microsoft Print to PDF
Conclusion
The article shares the detailed process of how to use Microsoft Print to PDF. It is free and convenient to create PDF files from Office documents or web pages. When you need to save the files as PDF as a professional, you can use PDFelement, which is an all-in-one solution for PDF files. If you want to create a PDF easily and quickly, you should have a try.