Unlike Mac’s computing rival Microsoft Windows, printing to PDF in OS X is as simple and straightforward as it gets. No software needs installing and you don’t need third party software like Adobe Acrobat or Reader. Access to printing and converting your Mac files to PDF is all done with built-in features that come standard on any Mac with OS X.
With this easy how-to guide, you’ll be printing files to PDF on your Mac in no time at all.
Now, for those unaware of what operating system your Mac is running, click on the Apple logo in the top left corner of your screen and then select About This Mac. Under the Mac OS X logo you’ll see a number looking like the following: 10.x.x. This is the version your Mac is currently operating. If you are running OS X 10.6.8 or earlier, Apple’s latest updated operating system, OS X Mavericks, is available for download for free through the Mac App Store.
For other PDF specific content, click over to our rundowns of how to edit a PDF file, how to convert a PDF to a Word file, and how to convert a PDF file to a JPG.
How to Print to PDF in Mac OS X
Once you’ve determined what operating system version your Mac is running, now comes the fun part of converting your files to PDFs.
Note: Almost every Mac application can save a document as a PDF, but to make it easy, we’re going show you how to print a document to PDF in TextEdit.
First, open the document you wish to print to PDF in any Mac application. Once your document is open, open the File menu at the top of the page and click Print.
The print options page will open. Click on the button in the bottom left corner labeled PDF.
Select Save as PDF, choose a destination for your new document, and click Save. You’ve just converted your original document into a PDF file. And that’s as simple as it gets. PDFs make viewing documents a breeze, and Apple makes converting your documents to that format just as easy.
Having trouble printing to PDF on your Mac? Sound off in the comments below.
