Excel VBA Save As (Print) To PDF

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Written by

Editorial Team

Reviewed by

Steve Rynearson

Last updated on November 18, 2021

This tutorial will demonstrate how to save / print to a PDF in Excel VBA.

Print to PDF

This simple procedure will print the ActiveSheet to a PDF.

Sub SimplePrintToPDF() ActiveSheet.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, Filename:="demo.pdf", Quality:=xlQualityStandard, _ IncludeDocProperties:=False, IgnorePrintAreas:=False, OpenAfterPublish:=True End Sub

I’ve also created a function with error handling, etc. that will print the ActiveSheet to a PDF:

Sub PrintPDF() Call Save_PDF End Sub Function Save_PDF() As Boolean ' Copies sheets into new PDF file for e-mailing Dim Thissheet As String, ThisFile As String, PathName As String Dim SvAs As String Application.ScreenUpdating = False ' Get File Save Name Thissheet = ActiveSheet.Name ThisFile = ActiveWorkbook.Name PathName = ActiveWorkbook.Path SvAs = PathName & "\" & Thissheet & ".pdf" 'Set Print Quality On Error Resume Next ActiveSheet.PageSetup.PrintQuality = 600 Err.Clear On Error GoTo 0 ' Instruct user how to send On Error GoTo RefLibError ActiveSheet.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, Filename:=SvAs, Quality:=xlQualityStandard, IncludeDocProperties:=False, IgnorePrintAreas:=False, OpenAfterPublish:=True On Error GoTo 0 SaveOnly: MsgBox "A copy of this sheet has been successfully saved as a .pdf file: " & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & SvAs & _ "Review the .pdf document. If the document does NOT look good, adjust your printing parameters, and try again." Save_PDF = True GoTo EndMacro RefLibError: MsgBox "Unable to save as PDF. Reference library not found." Save_PDF = False EndMacro: End Function

The function returns TRUE or FALSE if the print to PDF was successful or not.

Save and Email PDF Function

This function will save the ActiveSheet as a PDF and (optionally) attach the PDF to an email (assuming you have Outlook installed):

Sub Test_Save_PDF() Call Send_PDF("SendEmail") End Sub Function Send_PDF(Optional action As String = "SaveOnly") As Boolean ' Copies sheets into new PDF file for e-mailing Dim Thissheet As String, ThisFile As String, PathName As String Dim SvAs As String Application.ScreenUpdating = False ' Get File Save Name Thissheet = ActiveSheet.Name ThisFile = ActiveWorkbook.Name PathName = ActiveWorkbook.Path SvAs = PathName & "\" & Thissheet & ".pdf" 'Set Print Quality On Error Resume Next ActiveSheet.PageSetup.PrintQuality = 600 Err.Clear On Error GoTo 0 ' Instruct user how to send On Error GoTo RefLibError ActiveSheet.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, Filename:=SvAs, Quality:=xlQualityStandard, IncludeDocProperties:=False, IgnorePrintAreas:=False, OpenAfterPublish:=True On Error GoTo 0 ' Send Email If action = "SendEmail" Then On Error GoTo SaveOnly Set olApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application") Set olEmail = olApp.CreateItem(olMailItem) With olEmail .Subject = Thissheet & ".pdf" .Attachments.Add SvAs .Display End With On Error GoTo 0 GoTo EndMacro End If SaveOnly: MsgBox "A copy of this sheet has been successfully saved as a .pdf file: " & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & SvAs & _ "Review the .pdf document. If the document does NOT look good, adjust your printing parameters, and try again." Send_PDF = True GoTo EndMacro RefLibError: MsgBox "Unable to save as PDF. Reference library not found." Send_PDF = False EndMacro: End Function

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