If your computer is not connected to a printer, you can print the Document or File to digital format using the in-built Microsoft PDF Printer as available on your computer.
Once you Print to PDF on a Windows computer, the resulting PDF document can be saved to the Desktop on your computer or USB Drive and printed later on, whenever the printer becomes available.
As you must be aware, PDF is currently the most popular and widely used document and File sharing format. PDF files can be opened on any device or platform and they never lose their original content and formatting.
Print to PDF in Windows
When you print any Microsoft Word or Excel File to PDF, the resulting PDF document will be stripped of all its Metadata (Links, bookmarks, etc.) and it will only contain information as available on a printed page.
In comparison, when you Save As PDF, the resulting document will contain all the Metadata associated with the document and people will be able to click on the links.
Steps to Print to PDF in Windows 11/10
The Print to PDF feature as available in Windows is independent of the program or App that was used to create the program.
This means that you will be able to print to PDF Word Documents, Excel spreadsheets, Power Point presentations and files from most other programs.
1. Open the File that you want to print and click on the File tab in the top menu bar.
2. From the drop-down menu, select Print (1) in the left-pane. In the right-pane, click on the currently listed Printer (2) and select Microsoft Print to PDF option in the menu that appears.
3. Once Microsoft PDF Printer is selected, click on the Print box (3).
4. On the next screen, type a Name (1) for your print file > select the Location (2) where you want to save the PDF file and click on the Save (3) button.
Similarly, you can use the Print to PDF option on practically any app or program that allows you to print files.