# Off Topic. How To Save An Outlook 2017 Msg as Pdf



## Gnits (Sep 6, 2017)

This is off topic, but I am looking for a good tool to save an email as a pdf from within  latest version of Outlook (ie 2016/2017/ 365).

I have tried various options and plug-ins in the past with varied degrees of success/failure.  I am hoping there is an industrial strength solution someone knows about.


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## Linwood Ferguson (Sep 6, 2017)

Did you try the "Print to PDF" microsoft driver? 

Any chance you have Quicken?   It includes a Print to PDF driver also. 

Can you get it into Word in a form that satisfies you (e.g. reply, then copy/paste the data there into word) and save as PDF from word?


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## Gnits (Sep 6, 2017)

Thanks for the feedback.

I need a solution which either works as a plug-in to Outlook or is an independent app which can make it easy to select messages and save them (to a predefined folder with a predefined file naming structure).

I have PS6 Acrobat Pro.   This 'had' a super duper perfect plug-in for Outlook ..... but stopped working with a particular version of Office/ Outlook and at the time Adobe did not have a version of Acrobat which worked with the then current version of Outlook.  I do not want to subscribe to the current version of Acrobat CC and not sure if it has the feature required.

I have lots of PDF drivers available  thru various apps, but need more than just print to pdf.

I have written a VB script, which (with a single click) internally opens up Word, copies and pastes the content and saves as pdf to a folder of my choice (with folder naming convention of my choice) .... works well ... but:
a. Requires Maintenance and is a hassle to support. Office updates keep screwing up my Ribbon settings, which allow me to activate the script.
b. I do not have the energy, expertise to properly handle attachments.

I have tried in the past "Sperry Save to PDF", but was a disaster at the time, despite multiple remote support sessions from the developer.  I am retrying that now.  Currently configuring folder and filename default settings (not unlike Lr).  I will post a message here if I have positive results.

There are a lot of packages which look promising but are actually deceptive in their description.
a. The will only work with msg files already saved from Outlook.
b. Advertise that they work with Pst/Ost message folders but do not work in any practical way.
c. A thin cover for just saving to a pdf driver.

I want to be able to archive certain important emails (with attachments) which can subsequently be accessed and emailed independently of  Enterprise repositories (such as Exchange or similar). The filenames need to be structured so they can be searched/sorted by sender, subject and date.

I am amazed that there is not an obvious industrial strength desktop app (maybe there is).  I am sure there are lots of options which can work at the server level, but that is too rich for my needs.

My manual process is not reliable and spent several hours to-day trying to find an email pdf I know I saved approx 6 months ago.


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## Linwood Ferguson (Sep 6, 2017)

Gnits said:


> I am amazed that there is not an obvious industrial strength desktop app (maybe there is).



It's been forever since I was involved with these so no specific recommendations, but I know some of the archiving, forensic search enterprise tools will let you save output as PDF's.   I think Microsoft may even have had one?  Not sure -- we had one in a prior life and I remember using it (heck, I probably approved and paid for it but didn't have anything to do with setting it up).

That may be way more than you want to deal with of course, and it's on the back end not the desktop.  But there's a pile of these kind of search/archiving/forensic tools, you might see if any have a slim version you could twist to your needs?


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## sonali (Sep 7, 2017)

To save an Outlook 2017 MSG as PDF in batch you can use or try the Download MSG to PDF Converter Free to Batch Convert MSG Files to PDF utility. Very simple to use and convert unlimited MSG Files to PDF format with proper formatting and attachments too.


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## Gnits (Sep 8, 2017)

Thank you.  
I have read the user manual, which indicates that you must first create the msg files. I am looking for a solution which avoids the need to create an intermediate msg file.


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## DGStinner (Sep 8, 2017)

If you open a message and click on File, do you not have the following options?


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## Gnits (Sep 8, 2017)

DGStinner said:


> If you open a message and click on File, do you not have the following options?



Thank you.  I am using Office / Outlook on a Windows setup mostly.  The Outlook Save As Options do not include Pdf.

Here are the Windows Outlook Save As options.





Fairly sad, as most other Office modules allow save as Pdf.


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