Google Sheets to PDF: save a clean PDF on computer or phone

To turn Google Sheets to PDF, open the spreadsheet on a computer and click File > Download > PDF (.pdf). Sheets opens its print settings first, so you can choose what to export, fit the columns to the page and switch to landscape before the file downloads. On an Android phone, you print the sheet and pick Save as PDF as the printer. Here is how to get a PDF that is easy to read, not a pile of half-empty pages.

How to save Google Sheets as a PDF on a computer

This works in any browser with a free Google account.

1. Open the spreadsheet at docs.google.com/spreadsheets.
2. Click File > Download > PDF (.pdf). You can also use File > Print; both open the same settings screen.
3. On the right, choose what to export and how it should look. The next sections explain each option.
4. Watch the preview on the left. It shows every page exactly as it will come out, so you can catch problems before you download.
5. Click Export if you came from Download, or Next if you came from Print. In Chrome, Print opens the browser's print window: set Destination to Save as PDF and click Save.

The PDF lands in your Downloads folder. Your spreadsheet doesn't change: the settings only apply to this export.

Choose what to export: one sheet, the whole file or a range

The first choice on the settings screen decides which cells go into the PDF. Google's help page names three options:

• Current sheet: only the tab you have open. This is what you want most of the time, for example a marks list or one month of expenses.
• Workbook: every sheet in the file, one after another. Useful for a full report, but check the preview, because hidden helper tabs and rough notes come along too.
• Selected cells: only the cells you highlighted before opening the settings. This is the quickest way to export a print range.

To export just part of a sheet, close the settings, select the cells with your mouse (for example A1:F40), and open File > Download > PDF again. Then pick Selected cells. Blank rows and columns you didn't select won't appear, which is often the easiest fix for a PDF with empty pages at the end.

Fit the columns on the page

The most common complaint about a Google Sheets PDF is that the last columns end up on a separate page. Two settings solve it.

Scale

Under Scale, the default is Normal (100%), which prints the cells at their real size and splits wide tables across pages. The other choices are:

• Fit to width: shrinks the sheet so all columns fit across one page. Rows continue onto as many pages as needed. This is the best choice for most tables.
• Fit to height: fits all rows on one page and lets the columns spill over. Rarely useful.
• Fit to page: squeezes everything onto a single page. Good for a small table, a timetable or a one-page invoice, but a long sheet becomes too small to read.
• Custom number: a percentage of your choice, if Fit to width makes the text smaller than you like.

If Fit to width makes the text tiny, the table is simply too wide. Hide columns nobody needs in the PDF (right-click the column letter and choose Hide column), or narrow the widest columns, and the text grows again.

Page orientation and paper size

Set Page orientation to Landscape for a table with many columns, and keep Portrait for long lists. Landscape and Fit to width together handle most wide sheets.

Check Paper size too. In India and most countries outside North America the standard is A4, while Letter is the US size. If the PDF will be printed or attached to an official form, A4 is the safe choice. There is also a Custom size option where you type the width and height.

Gridlines, margins and other formatting

A PDF of a spreadsheet often looks unfinished without lines between the cells. On screen you see gray gridlines, but they are only a guide for editing, so they are not printed unless you ask for them.

• Show gridlines, under Formatting, prints the light lines around every cell. For a cleaner look, leave it off and add borders only to your table with the Borders button in the toolbar.
• Show notes adds the notes attached to cells. Leave it off unless the notes are meant for the reader.
• Page order decides whether pages go down then across, or across then down, when a table is both long and wide.
• Alignment centres the table on the page horizontally or vertically. Centring a small table horizontally makes it look much tidier.
• Margins has Normal, Narrow and Wide, plus Custom numbers. Narrow margins give a wide table a little more room.

Repeat the header row on every page

On a long list, page 3 of the PDF is hard to read if it has no column titles. Google Sheets can repeat the header row at the top of every page, but only if the row is frozen first.

1. Close the settings screen and click any cell in your header row.
2. Go to View > Freeze and choose 1 row, or Up to row plus the row number if your header is lower down or takes two rows.
3. Open File > Download > PDF again.
4. Open Headers & footers and tick Repeat frozen rows. There is also Repeat frozen columns, which repeats a frozen first column, such as names or roll numbers, on every page of a wide table.

In the same Headers & footers section you can add page numbers, the file name, the sheet name, the date and the time. Page numbers are worth adding to anything longer than two pages. Edit custom fields lets you change where each one appears and how it's written.

Control where pages break

Sometimes Fit to width is right but a page still breaks in the middle of a group, for example halfway through one student's results. Click Set custom page breaks on the settings screen, drag the blue lines to where each page should end and click Confirm breaks. To go back to automatic breaks, use Remove.

Google Sheets to PDF on an Android phone

The Google Sheets app for Android doesn't have the full settings screen of the computer version, but it can still make a PDF through printing:

1. Open the spreadsheet in the Google Sheets app.
2. Tap More (the three dots at the top right).
3. Tap Share & export, then Print.
4. At the top of the print screen, tap the printer name and choose Save as PDF. Check Paper size and Orientation in the same place.
5. Tap the round PDF button, pick a folder such as Downloads and tap Save.

The options are fewer than on a computer: you can't pick Fit to width, repeat header rows or export a selected range from the phone. If the table comes out split or tiny, the easiest fix is to change the layout once on a computer, or to hide columns you don't need before printing.

When the PDF is too big for a form

A PDF made from a spreadsheet with only text and numbers is usually small, often well under 100 KB. It grows when the sheet has images, logos, charts or many pages. Exam, scholarship and job application portals often set a strict limit, such as 200 KB or 500 KB.

If your file is over the limit, try these in order:

• Export only what the form asks for, with Current sheet or Selected cells, instead of the whole workbook.
• Remove or shrink large images in the sheet before exporting.
• Compress the finished file with our Compress PDF tool. It runs in your browser, so the PDF is never uploaded, and you can set the exact limit the form asks for.

The same portals usually want a photo and a signature in a fixed size and format as well. If you're filling one in, see how to resize your photo and signature for exam forms so all your uploads are accepted the first time.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my Google Sheets PDF have so many pages?

Usually because the scale is Normal (100%), so wide tables split across pages, or because empty formatted cells far below your data are included. Choose Fit to width, switch to landscape, and export Selected cells if blank rows still appear.

Can I save all the sheets in a file as one PDF?

Yes. On the settings screen, choose Workbook instead of Current sheet. Every tab is added to the same PDF, in the order the tabs appear at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

How do I keep the gridlines in the PDF?

Tick Show gridlines under Formatting on the settings screen. Gridlines are not printed by default, even though you see them while editing.

Can I turn a Google Sheet into a PDF without a computer?

Yes. In the Android app, tap More, then Share & export, then Print, and choose Save as PDF as the printer. You get fewer layout options than on a computer, but it works for simple tables.