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

Counting a Particular Word

Need to know how many times a particular word appears in a document? Here's a handy trick that will tell you the count, ...

Discover More

Transposing and Linking

Sometimes it is helpful to look at data that is rotated 90 degrees. Excel allows you to use Paste Special to transpose ...

Discover More

Empty PivotTable Cells Don't Show as Blank

You can configure Excel so that it displays special text within blank PivotTable cells. Here's how to make the changes ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Printing a Draft of a Worksheet

Want to print out the fastest possible copy of your worksheet? You do so by printing a draft, discussed in this tip.

Discover More

Repeating Rows on a Printout Except On the Last Page

When setting up a worksheet for printing, you can specify that Excel repeat some of your rows at the top of each page ...

Discover More

Printing a Worksheet List

Want a list of all the worksheets in your workbook? Here's a short, handy macro that will place all the worksheet names ...

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 nine more than 6?

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.