Creating Individual PDFs by Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 27, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


Lissa has a workbook that contains multiple worksheets. She would like to create individual PDFs for these worksheets (one PDF per worksheet) with the name of the PDF based on the worksheet's name. She wonders if there is a way to do this in Excel.

There are ways to do it, depending on how much time you want to spend. If this is a "one off" occurrence, you might consider just printing each individual worksheet manually. Or, you could copy each worksheet to its own workbook and then print each workbook to PDF.

These are quite manually intensive, though. (Which is why I said they may be good for only "one off" occurrences.) If you would like something a bit more automatic, you'll want to turn to using a macro to do the PDF files. Here's an example of a short macro that will do the PDF creation for you:

Sub CreatePDFs()
    Dim wks As Worksheet
    Dim sFolder As String
    Dim sTemp As String

    sFolder = ActiveWorkbook.Path & "\"

    sTemp = "Created PDFs for the following worksheets"
    For Each wks In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
        If wks.Visible = xlSheetVisible Then
            sTemp = sTemp & vbCrLf & "   * " & wks.Name
            wks.ExportAsFixedFormat Type:=xlTypePDF, _
              Filename:=sFolder & wks.Name & ".pdf", _
              OpenAfterPublish:=False
        End If
    Next

    MsgBox sTemp
End Sub

Note that the path stored in the sFolder variable is set to whatever path is associated with the active workbook. (If you haven't saved the active workbook yet, then the macro will not run properly.) This path is the folder in which the PDF files are saved. If you want them saved in a different location, just change the value assigned to the sFolder variable.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (13570) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Setting Prime Height Spacing in the Equation Editor

The Equation Editor is a great tool for easily creating fancy-looking equations in your document. You can even control ...

Discover More

Out of Memory Errors when Accessing the VBA Editor

It can be frustrating when you get error messages doing something that you previously did with no errors. If you get an ...

Discover More

Copying Between Instances of Excel

Copying information between two instances of Excel is different than copying information between two worksheets opened in ...

Discover More

Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Printing Individual Worksheets for Vendors

If you use a worksheet to track data for multiple vendors, you may wonder if there is a way to print individual ...

Discover More

Preventing Changes to Multiple Selected Worksheets

It is common to select a group of worksheets and then print them. When done, any edits you make may affect the entire ...

Discover More

Printing Two Worksheets on a Single Page

Getting your printouts to appear on a printed page exactly as you want can be a challenge at times. What if you want to ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is three less than 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.