It would seem that the answer to the question of how to keep a web page in PDF is not relevant for a long time. After all, to save your favourite web publications, any browser provides a simple functionality of bookmarks.
However, if you save in bookmarks not only regularly visited sites, but also news one day or information that can then come in handy, and may not come in handy, then this section of the browser will eventually become cluttered. And it will be difficult to find the right bookmarks.
There are many alternatives to save one-off publications, such as:
- Note services,
- Deferred Reading Services,
- regular or browser-built extensions to store unused active tabs and sessions.
However, these methods are good only if access to the Internet. But there are solutions that allow you to store web pages in the local space of the computer, without the Internet – this:
- leave a “memory” page in the form of an HTML or
- keep the web page in the PDF document.
The second way I would like to talk more.
Why it’s worth keeping a web page in a PDF
Saving in a PDF is the best way to capture a web page as it is at the moment, without any distortion.
You can use this method too, for example,
- record social accounts of persons who can allegedly delete important information from them.
- You can send statistics from analytical resources to a PDF document.
- Even regular news publications can be stored in this format of files to view them from mobile or other devices at a convenient time, but when there will be no Internet.
Read: How to place clickable links in PDF.
When pdf-formats are retained, the contents of the web page are optimally distributed on a sheet with default parameters set by default – A4 with a book orientation – for easy viewing in the reader programs. Default parameters can be changed if necessary to other, more suitable for the reader on a particular device.
How does saving a web page in a PDF format differ from other options?
PDF is a universal format, and its support is implemented on almost every device, and in every operating system.
However, a web page can also be
- Save in HTML,
- either from the page to take a screenshot.
The PDF format wins over the HTML format, first of all, with its versatility and abundance of readers with different functionality.
And from screenshots that can be made from web pages, the PDF file is different in that it can then be converted into a text document if you need it. It is known that conversion from PDF to text is not always possible. Therefore, it is worth using such methods of conversion, which initially recognize the text material of the sites, respectively, as text. These are the methods given for the Windows operating system below.
2. Print in browsers to save in PDF format
Almost all web browsers (simply put, browsers) have their own, built-in function for printing pages of sites. And this feature provides the ability to save in a PDF.
PDF in Google Chrome
Let’s see how you can save a web page in a PDF in Google Chrome.
- Click the Google Chrome Settings and Management menu;
- Click “Print”.
Then “Print” opens through the Google Chrome browser:
If you don’t have a “Save as a PDF” option on your Print menu, and instead of the name of the printer used, for example, HP LaserJet M1005 and then click on the “Change” button:
There will be a dialogue window “Destination Choice” in which you should pay attention to the tab “Local destinations”:
If you tick in front of save as a PDF option, you’ll see the same window. Then you can save the web page in a PDF format using the Google Chrome browser.
What can be adjusted for PDF saving in the Google Chrome browser?
If the web page in the preview window doesn’t appear correctly, you need to reveal additional settings.
And set a scale of 100% or other, more appropriate for the style of publication of a particular web resource.
PDF in Microsoft Edge browser
There are even two such mechanisms in the Windows 10 operating system:
- described above (via google Chrome) and
- implemented with Microsoft Print to PDF.
The second is a full-time virtual printer of the system, and its task is to ensure that the PDF can be stored in any web browser, or in any program that provides printing.
It is believed that printing with a virtual printer creates a more informative version of the site’s stored page, displaying its metadata. Whereas the usual PDF save feature is more of a cleansing page from unnecessary web elements and shifts the focus to the post itself. It is the case of each individual case, but often both of these mechanisms work exactly the same.
How do I use Microsoft Print to PDF? To do this, in Windows 10 we open a built-in, regular browser Microsoft Edge:
When you open Microsoft Edge, you need to
- Settings and other menus
- select “Print”.
If the computer does not use a real printer, then the virtual PDF printer is usually installed by default.
Otherwise, click on the name of the connected printer. For example, clicking on the “HP LaserJet M1005.” A drop-down menu will open, in which we choose the “Microsoft Print to PDF” option from the list of available printing options:
In Microsoft Edge, by the way, the printing mechanism with the participation of the PDF printer is optimally configured. Here, in particular, the default is the compression option by the size of the web page. If other options don’t require correction, you can click at the bottom of Print.
PDF in Mozilla Firefox
The optimal PDF printer settings include printing on board Mozilla Firefox.
- Click “Open Menu”,
- Then, “Print”.
In the Print window, you can set parameters to save the web page in PDF:
- The number of pages needed
- Scale
- book or album orientation
- and a very useful “Simplify Page” option that removes unnecessary navigation elements from a web page. As a result, the pdf document looks neat, and “coiffed.”
If in Mozilla, the print option is the name of the printer (figure 13 is HP LaserJet M1005), but there is no PDF, then it is necessary
- Click on a small triangular,
- choose a PDF.
Two extensions for Google Chrome and Mozilla
The non-emergency functionality of browsers can save site pages in PDF documents with two advantages:
- in one click and
- automatically generated file name.
The latter, by the way, does not know how to do a regular, built-in print function. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox stores have a lot of extensions to implement in these browsers a convenient way to convert Internet pages into PDF, and the two proposed below are the most intelligent of them.
Extensions are downloaded from official stores, and then installed in the browser. As a result, an icon of the installed extension appears on the toolbar in the browser. Next, if necessary, you can open a web page, click on the icon of such an extension and save the page in the PDF document on your device.
PDF Expansion
PDF Mage implements a button on the Chrome and Firefox toolbar when you click on which the process of creating a PDF from the contents of the current tab starts. The extension itself generates the name of the file according to the name of the publication. Names are formed Cyrillic.
If you install a PDF Mage extension in Google Chrome or Firefox browsers, you’ll see an icon marked with the number 1 on the pic. 14.
To save the web page with extensions:
- Open the browser, and there’s a web page
- Click on the PDF Mage icon,
- See where in which folder the pdf will be saved,
- “Save”.
Save as PDF expansion
Save as a PDF is similar to the previous extension. Once installed
- There will also be a button on the Chrome and Firefox toolbars,
- Also works with one click,
- it also sets names for the files according to the names of the publications. But with the difference that the names are generated in Latin.
Three online services to save a webpage as PDF
PDFcrowd.Com
The Save as PDF extension discussed above was developed by the creators of the web service PDFcrowd.Com. This service can be used when working with browsers, which provide for the installation of extensions.
The principle of working with the service is simple: a copied link to the Internet page is inserted into a special field, click “Convert to PDF” and specify the way to save the file.
Similar to the above web services on the network a few, here are a couple of analogues.
Read: Two simple methods to convert PDF files to read on Kindle.
PDFmyurl.Com
On the service’s website, PDFmyurl.Com insert the address of the web page into the centered box and click “Save as PDF.”
The file names on the output are automatically generated in Latin.
Htm2PDF.Co.Uk
We do the same with the web service Htm2PDF.Co.Uk: insert the address of the desired page in the center of the field, click “Convert!” and then “Download your PDF.”
This service also generates file names itself, and also in Latin. It also has an extension for the Google Chrome browser, that’s just running it through the times. The online service itself is more stable in this regard.
CTRL P Hot Keys for All PDFs in All Browsers
To save a web page in the PDF, you can open it in any browser and press the hot keys of CTRL’P. Let me remind you how hot keys work: first press the CTRL, then do not release it, at the same time click on the P. After that, the “Print” window should appear on the screen.
If you have a printer connected to your computer, then in the “Print” window you will have to click on the “Change” button, which is next to the name of your printer. The menu will open, in which you need to tick the opposite “Save as a PDF.”
This versatile way with hot keys is good because it doesn’t require the installation of additional software for the browser.
If you don’t like the hot key option, type in the search engine for a query without quotes like this:
- “expansion save in PDF Opera” or
- “expansion save in PDF Yandex Browser.”
The search engine will offer you extensions, from them it is better to choose options on official browser sites. Installing an extension in the browser and further working with it are described by TIME, all extensions are arranged on a similar principle.
