How to turn a web page into a PDF

Web pages can be saved as PDFs with File > New > From a web page in PDF by Zaweba. Give it the page, and it prints it to A4 pages using WebView2, the web component that Windows 10 and 11 already have. For a page saved on your computer, File > New > From an HTML file does the same.

A PDF of a web page is a snapshot you can keep. Web pages change and disappear, but a PDF of an order confirmation, a booking, a set of terms or an article stays exactly as it was on the day you saved it.

What WebView2 means for you

WebView2 is the part of Windows that shows web content inside apps. Because PDF by Zaweba uses it, the page is laid out by a modern web engine, the same kind that draws pages in a browser. Layouts, fonts and pictures come out much as you see them on screen, and you don't need to install anything extra on Windows 10 or 11.

Saving a page

Choose File > New > From a web page and enter the page. The PDF is made on A4 and opens in a tab, not yet saved. Scroll through it, and if it looks right, save it with a name that will mean something later, such as the site and the date.

For an HTML file on your computer, perhaps a report written by another program or a page saved from a browser, choose From an HTML file instead and pick the file.

Getting a clean PDF

Web pages are made for screens, not paper, so a little tidying is common.

Menus, banners and footers come along with the content. If you only want the article or the confirmation, delete the pages that are only navigation, using the thumbnails panel and the Delete key. Pages > Crop pages can trim a sidebar or a header strip from the pages you keep.

Some pages show their content only once you've scrolled or clicked, or sit behind a login. A PDF made from the address shows what the page gives when it's loaded, so for pages like that, saving the page as an HTML file from your browser first and converting that file can give a better result.

Long pages simply flow onto as many A4 pages as they need.

Adding a web page to a document you already have

You don't always want a new PDF. If the web page belongs with other papers, such as a confirmation that goes with an invoice, PDF by Zaweba can insert pages from a web page or HTML file straight into the open document. That keeps everything in one file.

After converting

Text from the page normally comes through as real text in the PDF, so you can search it, copy from it and highlight it with the comment tools. If the page held a table you need in a spreadsheet, select it and copy it, and it pastes as rows and columns.

PDF by Zaweba is free software for Windows that works offline with no account. The conversion itself happens on your PC; only the web page you ask for is fetched.