How to Save Excel as PDF or CSV

An Excel workbook isn't always the right thing to send. A PDF is a fixed picture of your sheet: it looks the same on any phone or computer, and nobody can change the numbers by accident. A CSV file is the opposite: plain text with commas between the values, which almost every app, bank, school system and database can import. Both start from Save As, which F12 opens directly.

The examples use this order list. Column F holds formulas, and the order and tracking numbers are stored as text so that the leading zeros and long digits stay as typed.

	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Order	Customer	Tracking number	Qty	Price	Total
2	00125	Harbor Cafe	9400111899223344	4	18.5	74
3	00126	Blue Fern Books	9400111899223351	2	32	64
4	00127	Oak Street Gym	9400111899223368	10	12.75	127.5
5	00128	Lumen Studio	9400111899223375	3	45	135
6	00129	Maple Dental	9400111899223382	12	4.25	51
7	Total					451.5

Five orders with text order numbers (00125…), 16-digit tracking numbers, quantities, prices, a Total formula in column F and a grand total in F7.

Where to find it

There are three ways in, and they all end in the same place:

Save As: press F12, or go to File › Save As › Browse, and pick a format in the Save as type list.
Export: File › Export › Create PDF/XPS Document for a PDF, or Change File Type for CSV and other formats.
Print: Ctrl+P, then choose Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer.

File › Export. The File tab opens a full-page menu instead of a ribbon; its Export page offers Create PDF/XPS Document and Change File Type.

When AutoSave is on, the File menu shows Save a Copy instead of Save As. It works the same way for PDF and CSV.

Which format do you need?

	PDF	CSV	Excel workbook (.xlsx)
Best for	Sending a finished report to read or print	Moving data into another app or system	Working on the data
Keeps formatting	Yes, exactly as printed	No	Yes
Keeps formulas	No, only what's shown	No, only values	Yes
Sheets	One, several or all	Only the active sheet	All
Can be edited	Not easily	Yes, as plain text	Yes

Always keep your .xlsx file. A PDF or CSV is a copy you send out, not a replacement for the workbook.

Save a sheet as PDF

Set up the page first
A PDF is a printout saved to a file, so it uses the sheet's page setup. Press Ctrl+P to check the preview: if a column spills onto a second page in the preview, it will in the PDF too. Fix it with orientation, scaling or a print area first.
Open Save As and choose PDF
Press F12. Type a file name, then open Save as type and choose PDF (*.pdf). The bottom of the dialog changes to show the PDF choices.
The Save As dialog with PDF chosen. Standard gives the best quality; Minimum size makes a smaller file for email.
Choose what to publish
Click Options.... Under Publish what, choose Active sheet(s) (the default), Entire workbook or Selection. Click OK.
The Options dialog. Publish what decides which sheets go into the PDF; Page range can limit it to some pages.
Save
Click Save. With Open file after publishing ticked, the PDF opens in your PDF viewer so you can check it straight away.

File › Export › Create PDF/XPS Document opens the same choices in a dialog called Publish as PDF or XPS, with a Publish button instead of Save.

Whole workbook, active sheet or selection

Publish what	What goes into the PDF
Active sheet(s)	The sheet you're on. To include a few sheets, select their tabs with `Ctrl`+click before you save.
Entire workbook	Every visible sheet, each starting on a new page. Hidden sheets are left out.
Selection	Only the cells you selected before opening Save As.

Ignore print areas prints whole sheets even where a print area is set.

Page setup decides how the PDF looks

Everything from Page Layout then Page Setup carries into the PDF: the print area, orientation, margins, Fit All Columns on One Page, rows repeated with Print Titles, and headers and footers such as Page 1 of 3. Gridlines appear only if you tick Print under Gridlines in Page Layout then Sheet Options. The guide to printing and page setup covers each one.

The alternative: print to PDF

Press Ctrl+P, choose Microsoft Print to PDF in the Printer list and click Print. Windows asks for a file name. This works in any program on Windows 10 and 11, but it behaves exactly like printing on paper: there are no PDF options, and links in cells don't stay clickable. Excel's own PDF export is usually the better choice.

Save a sheet as CSV

Go to the sheet you want
A CSV file holds one sheet, so click the tab of the sheet to save. Save your workbook as .xlsx first, so you keep a copy with all the formulas and formatting.
Choose a CSV type
Press F12, then in Save as type choose CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv). There's also CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv); the difference is explained below.
Choose CSV UTF-8 unless the system you're sending the file to asks for something else.
Save and read the warning
Click Save. Excel saves only the active sheet, and depending on your version it may tell you so first. A yellow bar then appears above the sheet: POSSIBLE DATA LOSS, explaining that some features might be lost in the comma-delimited format. It's a reminder, not an error. The CSV file is fine.
Close the CSV and go back to the workbook
The window now shows the .csv file, not your workbook. Close it, and open the .xlsx again to keep working. Changes you make in the CSV window, such as new formulas or colors, won't survive in the CSV.

What a CSV keeps and what it loses

Open the CSV in Notepad and you'll see exactly what was saved:

Order,Customer,Tracking number,Qty,Price,Total
00125,Harbor Cafe,9400111899223344,4,18.5,74
00126,Blue Fern Books,9400111899223351,2,32,64
00127,Oak Street Gym,9400111899223368,10,12.75,127.5
00128,Lumen Studio,9400111899223375,3,45,135
00129,Maple Dental,9400111899223382,12,4.25,51
Total,,,,,451.5

Kept: each cell's value, written as it appears in the cell. The formula =D2*E2 became 74, and a price formatted to show 18.50 would be saved as 18.50.
Lost: formulas, fonts, colors, borders, column widths, merged cells, conditional formatting, comments, charts, pictures and every other sheet.
Quotes: a value that contains a comma, such as Smith, J., is saved inside double quotes so it stays in one column.

In countries that use a comma as the decimal mark, Excel separates the values with semicolons instead of commas.

CSV UTF-8 or plain CSV?

CSV UTF-8 stores every character correctly: Korean, Chinese, accents such as é and ñ, and symbols such as €. Plain CSV (Comma delimited) uses your computer's older regional encoding. On an English-language PC, Korean names turn into question marks. Use CSV UTF-8 unless the receiving system's instructions name a different one.

Reopening a CSV: leading zeros and long numbers

The CSV above is correct. The trouble starts when you double-click it to open it in Excel again: Excel converts anything that looks like a number.

	A	B	C	D	E	F
1	Order	Customer	Tracking number	Qty	Price	Total
2	125	Harbor Cafe	9.40011E+15	4	18.5	74
3	126	Blue Fern Books	9.40011E+15	2	32	64
4	127	Oak Street Gym	9.40011E+15	10	12.75	127.5
5	128	Lumen Studio	9.40011E+15	3	45	135
6	129	Maple Dental	9.40011E+15	12	4.25	51
7	Total					451.5

The same CSV opened by double-clicking. Order 00125 became 125, and every tracking number became 9.40011E+15.

Leading zeros disappear: 00125 becomes the number 125. The same happens to ZIP codes, phone numbers and student IDs.
Long numbers are cut: Excel keeps only 15 significant digits, so 9400111899223344 is stored as 9400111899223340 and shown in scientific notation.
Saving again makes it permanent: if you now save the CSV, it contains 125 and 9.40011E+15, and the original values are gone from the file.

To open a CSV safely, start from a blank workbook and use Data then Get & Transform Data then From Text/CSV, then set those columns to text, as the guide to importing and cleaning data shows. In current Microsoft 365, File › Options › Data also has Automatic Data Conversion settings where you can stop Excel removing leading zeros and shortening long numbers.

Real-world scenarios

Work

Send a quote without the internal margin

A small design studio prices a job in Excel. Column E holds the studio's margin, which the client must not see.

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Item	Qty	Unit price	Amount	Margin (internal)
2	Logo design	1	450	450	40%
3	Business cards (500)	2	85	170	35%
4	Flyers (1000)	1	220	220	30%
5	Delivery	1	25	25	10%
6	Total			865

A quote with four items and a total in A1:D6. Column E, the internal margin, sits outside the outlined print area.

Set A1:D6 as the print area, then press F12 and save as PDF. The client gets a clean one-page quote that opens on any phone, and the margin column never leaves the office.

School

Upload marks to the school system

A teacher's mark sheet has student IDs with leading zeros and names written in several languages. The school's system asks for a CSV file.

	A	B	C
1	Student ID	Name	Score
2	0412	Ana García	88
3	0413	김민준	92
4	0414	Chloé Dubois	79
5	0415	Nguyễn Thảo	85
6	0416	Liam O'Brien	90

Student IDs from 0412 to 0416 (stored as text), names in Spanish, Korean, French and Vietnamese, and scores.

Saving as CSV UTF-8 keeps 김민준 and Nguyễn Thảo intact, and the IDs are written as 0412 because they're text in the sheet. The teacher uploads that file directly. Opening it in Excel to check it, then saving, would turn the IDs into 412.

Personal

Share the whole trip planner

Two friends plan a trip in one workbook with a Budget sheet and a Packing sheet, and want to send everything to the rest of the group.

	A	B	C
1	Item	Cost	Paid by
2	Flights	640	Sam
3	Cabin (3 nights)	420	Jo
4	Car rental	180	Sam
5	Groceries	95	Jo
6	Total	1,335

The Budget sheet: four costs, who paid each one, and a total of 1,335.

Press F12, choose PDF, click Options... and choose Entire workbook. One PDF holds both sheets, each starting on its own page, ready to send in a group chat.

Common mistakes

Only the first sheet appears in the PDF. The default is Active sheet(s). Choose Entire workbook in Options..., or select several sheet tabs first.
Half a table in the PDF. An old print area is still set, or a column spills onto another page. Check Ctrl+P before saving, or tick Ignore print areas.
Expecting a CSV to keep every sheet. A CSV holds only the active sheet. Save each sheet as its own CSV file.
Working on in the CSV. Formulas and formatting you add in the CSV window are lost when it's saved. Go back to the .xlsx.
Question marks instead of Korean or accented letters. The file was saved as plain CSV. Save it again as CSV UTF-8.
Lost leading zeros or digits. The CSV was opened by double-clicking and then saved. Import it with From Text/CSV instead, and never resave a CSV you only meant to check.

Practice

Export one list two ways

Type the order list from the top of this page into a new workbook. Type the order and tracking numbers with an apostrophe first ('00125) so Excel stores them as text, and put =D2*E2 in F2 and fill it down. Save it as an .xlsx file.
Set the page to Landscape, then press F12 and save the sheet as a PDF. Open the PDF and check that every column fits.
Add a second sheet with any data, then save a PDF of the Entire workbook with Options.... Check that it has two pages.
Go back to the order sheet and save it as CSV UTF-8. Read the yellow bar, then close the file.
Open the CSV in Notepad and find the 00125 and the totals without formulas.
Now open the CSV in Excel by double-clicking it, and see what happened to the order and tracking numbers. Close it without saving.

How to Save Excel as PDF or CSV

What you'll learn

Before you start

Where to find it

Which format do you need?

Save a sheet as PDF

Set up the page first

Open Save As and choose PDF

Choose what to publish

Save