How to Create a Save As PDF Button in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word has supported saving documents to PDF since Word 2010. The process to do that however has always been a bit longwinded.

Users either have to use the Save as option which has always been the quickest option, or have to resort to the longer route of navigating first to the File tab then the Export menu.

Fortunately, there are some ways to shorten this process. The first option which I covered earlier is to set up a custom save to PDF keyboard shortcut and the second option is to use a PDF button. Let’s take a look at this latter option.

Add a Publish as PDF Button to the Quick Access Toolbar

The steps below will work in all versions of Word 2010 and later. It should also be possible in Word 2007 if you have the Save as PDF or XPS add-in installed.

1. Go to Word Options.
2. Select the Quick Access Toolbar option.
3. In the dropdown box, select the File tab.
4. Go to the list of commands and select Publish as PDF or XPS.
5. Click the Add button to add this command to the Quick Access Toolbar.
6. Click OK to save the settings.

Now when you go back to the editor, you’ll find a new button has been added to the quick access toolbar. Clicking it will bring up the publish dialog to select where to save the PDF.