How to Convert a Google Docs File into a PDF Document?

We all love Google Docs. You won't convince me that MS Word is at least remotely as good as Google Docs. But sending a Google Docs / Word document to a client or colleague is usually unprofessional. Well, I guess you know that better than I do, because you clicked on this article.

So, how do you convert a Google Docs file into a PDF document?

If you need to do the reverse - convert a PDF to Word document - check out our guide on How to Convert PDF to Word.

Convert Google Docs to PDF

It's quite simple actually, but not obvious.

1. Open your Google Docs document.

2. Click on the File menu.

3. Select Download > PDF document.

4. Save the file to the desired location on your computer.

Email the Google Docs file as a PDF Directly

I would have never thought about it, but a colleague of mine showed me this trick when we were working on a project together.

You can email the Google Docs file as a PDF directly from the Google Docs interface.

1. Open your Google Docs document.
2. Click on the File menu.

3. Select Email > Email this file.

4. Select the recipient, subject, and message.

5. Select the file type. By default, it will be set to PDF, but you can select other options as well.

6. Click Send.

Here's an example of what the email will look like:

Conclusion

We've covered two ways to convert a Google Docs file into a PDF document.

1. Download the PDF document.
2. Email the Google Docs file as a PDF directly.

Congratulations — now you're officially out of excuses for sending poorly formatted Google Docs to your team lead. Time to find another reason to procrastinate on that quarterly report!