Now just save the PDF as usual, filling in the title, author, and subject if desired, or choosing to password lock the PDF by going through the Security Options. Here’s an example of using this keyboard shortcut from Safari to save everyones favorite : Just open the document and hit Command+P+P to jump past the standard print dialog box and immediately to the “Save As PDF” portion of the Print dialog. Open just about any file or webpage to test out your new keyboard shortcut to save the file as a PDF. Close out of System Preferences, you’re ready to test the new PDF saving keystroke which is going to be Command+P+P (yes, holding down command and hitting P twice).Click into “Keyboard Shortcut” and now hit Command+P (yes, that’s the standard printer shortcut, wait and see how this works).In “Menu Title”, type in “Save as PDF…” exactly (yes, with three periods on the end).Head to the Apple menu and choose “System Preferences”, then go to the “Keyboard” control panel.In macOS Sierra, OS X El Capitan, and earlier versions of Mac OS, you can use the following trick to make a Save as PDF keystroke on the Mac: Make a “Save as PDF” Keyboard Shortcut in Mac OS X Now you’re ready to Save as PDF where ever you are, easy peasy.įor some apps you won’t need to hit P twice, like Chrome which will bring up the print option with Save as PDF as an option.Īnd yes hitting P twice sounds like it could be a conflict, but as MacSparky says, “trust me”, because it works. Close out of System Preferences, you’re ready to test the new PDF saving keystroke which is going to be Command+P+P (hold down Command while hitting the P key twice).Click into “Keyboard Shortcut” and now hit Command + P.In “Menu Title”, type in “Save as PDF” exactly.Select ‘App Shortcuts’ from the left side menu, then click the plus button to add a new shortcut.Go to the Apple menu and choose “System Preferences”, then go to the “Keyboard” control panel.Scroll down a bit further to see the guides for making the same keystroke on older MacOS versions. In modern macOS versions, you can use the following steps to create a “Save as PDF” keystroke in macOS.
Preview mac os x shortcuts how to#
How to Make a “Save as PDF” Keyboard Shortcut for macOS Monterey, Big Sur, Mojave, High Sierra It’s going to look and sound like a conflict with the normal Mac OS X print shortcut of Command+P, but it does not. This walkthrough is going to demonstrate enabling a ‘Save as PDF’ keyboard function as a secondary feature of the traditional printing keyboard shortcut, and we’ll show you how to set the keystroke for macOS Monterey, macOS Big Sur, Mojave, High Sierra, MacOS Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan, and before.