Convert email messages to PDFs (Windows)

You can use PDFMaker to convert one or more Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes email messages or entire folders of messages to a merged PDF or PDF package. Within a package, each email message appears as separate PDF file.

The Acrobat PDFMaker Conversion Settings dialog box contains the option that determines whether emails are merged into one continuous PDF or assembled into a PDF package.

The controls that activate a email conversion to PDF appear in two places within the email application: on the Acrobat PDFMaker toolbar and on a menu. In Outlook, the menu is called Adobe PDF and appears to the right of the Outlook Help menu. In Lotus Notes, PDF commands appear under the Actions menu.

You can convert one currently open email message to PDF (not to a PDF package) by choosing File > Print, and selecting Adobe PDF as the printer in the Print dialog box. The PDFMaker conversion settings do not affect this process.

Specify whether emails become merged PDFs or PDF packages

  1. Do one of the following:

    • (Outlook) Choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings.

    • (Lotus Notes) Choose Actions > Change Adobe PDF Conversion Settings.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To convert and merge emails into a PDF as sequential pages of one document, deselect Output Adobe PDF Package When Creating A New PDF File.

    • To assemble converted emails as components of a PDF package, select Output Adobe PDF Package When Creating A New PDF File.

Convert email messages to a new PDF

  1. In Outlook or Lotus Notes, select the individual email messages that you want to archive.
  2. Do one of the following:

    • (Outlook) Click the Convert Messages button  in the Acrobat PDFMaker toolbar, or choose Adobe PDF > Convert To Adobe PDF > Selected Messages.

    • (Lotus Notes) Click the Convert Selected Messages To Adobe PDF button  in the Acrobat PDFMaker toolbar, or choose Actions > Convert Selected Messages To Adobe PDF.

  3. In the Save Adobe PDF As dialog box, select a location, type a filename, and click Save.
Note: For security reasons, the default settings in Outlook 2003 block automatic downloading of pictures in HTML email messages from unknown senders and sites. If you want to download such images and include them in the conversion to PDF, you can change that setting in Outlook by choosing Tools > Options, clicking the Security tab, and then clicking the Change Automatic Download Settings, where specific options are available. For more information, see the Outlook Help system.

Add email messages to an existing PDF

  1. In Outlook or Lotus Notes, select the individual email messages that you want to convert and add to a PDF.
  2. Do one of the following:

    • (Outlook) Choose Adobe PDF > Convert And Append To Existing Adobe PDF > Selected Messages.

    • (Lotus Notes) Choose Actions > Append Selected Messages To Existing Adobe PDF.

  3. Locate and select the PDF or PDF package to which you want to add the converted emails, and click Open.
    Important: Do not type a new name for the PDF. If you do, a warning message appears telling you that the PDF was not found. Click OK, and select a PDF without changing its name.
  4. (Outlook only) If a message appears, alerting you that the existing PDF was creating using an earlier version of PDFMaker, do one of the following:

    • To create a PDF package from the original PDF archive, click Yes, and select a name and location for the new archive. (The default name adds _Packaged to the original PDF filename.) When the conversion is complete and the Creating Adobe PDF dialog box closes, the new archive opens in Acrobat.

    • To not create a PDF package from the original PDF archive, click No and cancel the process.

Note: In earlier versions of Acrobat and for email merged into a single PDF, email messages might be duplicated when running the append process. For PDF packages of email converted or migrated in Acrobat 8.0, only new messages—that is, messages that are not already part of the PDF package—are appended.

(Lotus Notes) Convert an email folder to a new PDF

  1. In Lotus Notes, select the folder that you want to convert to PDF.
  2. Click the Convert Selected Folder To Adobe PDF button  on the Acrobat PDFMaker toolbar, or choose Actions > Convert Selected Folder To Adobe PDF.
  3. In the Save Adobe PDF File As, specify a location and name for the PDF package, and click Save.

To convert other Lotus Notes folders to PDF, repeat this procedure for each folder.

(Outlook) Convert email folders to a new PDF

In Outlook, PDFMaker can convert multiple folders to PDF in one procedure. It is not necessary to select those folders at the beginning of the process because you can make these selection in a dialog box that appears automatically.

  1. In Outlook, choose Adobe PDF > Convert To Adobe PDF > Selected Folders.
  2. In the Convert Folder(s) To PDF dialog box, select the folders you want to convert, and then select or deselect the Convert This Folder And All Sub Folders option.
  3. In the Save Adobe PDF File As, select a location and name for the PDF package.

The Creating Adobe PDF status dialog box shows the progress of the conversion. When the conversion is complete, the new PDF opens in Acrobat.

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