How do I save an Outlook email as a PDF, with its attachments?

Question

I need to keep a few important emails as PDF for a legal file. I want the email text, the header (from, to, date) and the attachments. What is the right way to do it in Outlook?

Mariya Beckham · Accepted Answer

Desktop Outlook for Windows:

1. Open the email (double click it).
2. Go to File > Print.
3. In the printer list choose "Microsoft Print to PDF" (or Adobe PDF if installed).
4. Click Print and name the file.

This keeps the header (from, to, date, subject) and the body, which is what a legal file usually needs. Attachments are not embedded in that PDF though. Save them separately: select the attachment, File > Save Attachments, and keep them in the same folder with the same date in the file names.

If the attachment is itself a PDF or Word file you can open it and use the same print to PDF method. Name the files so they sort together, for example 2026-10-28 Email.pdf and 2026-10-28 Email Attachment 1.pdf.

Julia Moreno · Answer

Makes sense. I have about 40 emails to do. Is there a faster method than one by one?

David Ross · Answer

You can select several emails in the list and press Ctrl + P, but Outlook then prints each one as a separate job and Windows will ask for a filename each time. It still saves clicks.

A cleaner way for a legal file: Save As in the email view and choose HTML or .msg for the archive copy (keeps everything including attachments in the original form), and create the PDFs only for the ones that need reading copies. Keeping the native format is often what legal teams actually want as evidence.

Julia Moreno · Answer

Good point on keeping the original .msg too. Will do both. Thanks both.