How to convert Excel to PDF
- Open Excel to pdf. Click its icon on the Chrome toolbar. It opens in the side panel; “Open in a full tab” gives you more room.
- Add the spreadsheet. Drop the file into the panel or click “Choose files”. To convert only part of a sheet, copy the cells in Excel or Google Sheets and press Ctrl+V in the panel.
- Check the preview. Tick the sheets you need. Change the paper, orientation, scaling or margins under “Page setup” if you want.
- Convert. Click “Convert to PDF” or press Ctrl+Enter. The PDF is saved to your downloads.
No Microsoft Excel, no account, and nothing to upload. Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+O to open files, Ctrl+V to paste cells, Ctrl+Enter to convert.
Convert Excel to PDF without uploading the file
Most online Excel to PDF converters upload your spreadsheet to their server and send the PDF back. Excel to pdf works the other way round: version 2 reads the file and creates the PDF inside Chrome on your computer. The extension has no server and no account, its security policy does not allow it to connect to the internet, and it works offline. Invoices, salary sheets and reports stay with you. Details are in the privacy policy.
Which files it converts: XLSX, XLS, CSV, ODS
| File | What is kept in the PDF |
|---|---|
| XLSX, XLSM, Excel templates | fonts, colours, fills, borders, merged cells, alignment, number formats, pictures and logos, the workbook's print settings |
| XLS (Excel 97–2003), XLSB | values, number formats, merged cells, column widths, simple fills |
| ODS (LibreOffice, OpenOffice) | values, number formats, merged cells, column widths |
| CSV, TSV | the table with a bold header row; long text wraps |
| Pasted cells | only the range you copied from Excel or Google Sheets |
Charts and conditional formatting are not carried over, and password-protected files cannot be opened: remove the password in Excel first.
Fit a spreadsheet on the page
The usual problem with Excel to PDF is the layout: the last columns land on a separate page, the text gets tiny, or the header row is missing on page two. Excel to pdf starts in Smart mode:
- If the workbook has its own print settings — print area, rows to repeat, fit to page, scale, paper, margins, page breaks — they are used, as Excel would print them.
- If not, all columns are fitted to the page width, and a wide table is turned to landscape.
- The text is not shrunk below 50 %: a very wide table continues on the next page, the way Excel does it.
- The header row is repeated at the top of every page.
Hidden rows and columns are skipped. The paper is Letter in the United States, Canada and Mexico and A4 elsewhere, unless you choose another one.
Page setup options
| Option | Choices |
|---|---|
| Paper | Auto, A4, Letter, Legal, A3, A5, Tabloid |
| Orientation | Auto, portrait, landscape |
| Scaling | Smart, Fit width, One page, 100 % |
| Margins | Auto, Normal, Narrow, Wide, None |
| Gridlines | Auto, on, off |
| Extras | repeat header row on every page, page numbers, sheet name at the top, center on page |
The preview is drawn by the same code that writes the PDF, so the pages you see are the pages you get. Your choices are remembered for the next time.
Convert several sheets or files at once
Add as many spreadsheets as you need. Each file shows its sheets: tick the ones to include — hidden and empty sheets are off by default. Then choose the output:
- PDF per file — one PDF for each workbook;
- PDF per sheet — a separate PDF for every sheet;
- Merge into one — all files and sheets in a single PDF.
Several PDFs are saved together in one ZIP file.
Other ways to convert Excel to PDF
- In Microsoft Excel: File → Save As (or Export) → PDF. If the columns do not fit, set Page Layout → “Scale to Fit” first.
- In Google Sheets: File → Download → PDF, where you can choose the paper, scaling and gridlines. The file has to be uploaded to Google Drive first.
- Print to PDF: open the file in any spreadsheet program and print to “Save as PDF” or “Microsoft Print to PDF”.
Excel to pdf is the quicker choice when you do not have Excel at hand, when the file should not be uploaded, or when you have many files or sheets to convert.
Product facts
| Developer | Cresotech (PayForSay s. r. o., Slovakia) |
| Version | 1.0.2, updated 2024-10-30 |
| Works in | Chrome 116 or later and other Chromium browsers with a side panel, on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS |
| Files | XLSX, XLSM, XLS, XLSB, ODS, CSV, TSV, pasted cells |
| Where the conversion happens | in Chrome on your computer; nothing is uploaded |
| Permissions | side panel only |
| Languages | 52 |
| Price | Free |