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Efficient Methods to Change HTML To PDF With Ease

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How to change HTML to PDF? Why would you need to do that? Well, it’s because of the many differences between these two file formats - the way they can be viewed, the way you edit them, and other factors. These differences also make them ideal under different scenarios.

For instance, an HTML file is ideal for web viewing but not ideal for printing. PDF, on the other hand, is perfect in both printed and digital forms when it comes to sharing, collaboration, consistency of content, and so on.

PDF is also ideal for global distribution because, we’ll explain, it is independent of the operating system or device type that it is being viewed on. As long as there’s some sort of PDF reading utility installed on a system, most PDF formats can be viewed without any issues whatsoever. HTML, on the other hand, is susceptible to accidental changes or unwanted elements creeping in when converting from another format.

Though each is ideal for a set of tasks, it’s possible that HTML files might pose a challenge in many instances, which means you need to know how to change an HTML file to a PDF equivalent. Here are some great tools to do this and how these tools work.

Part 1. Difference Between HTML and PDF Files

First, however, let’s distill the essential differences between HTML and PDF and why you need to know how to change HTML to PDF in a pinch or for some specific purpose. Here are some of the disparate qualities of arguably two of the most popular file formats in the world.

Characteristic/Attribute
HTML
PDF
Universal viewing Web-based tools only All kinds of virtual and physical media
Ease and cost of printing Difficult, High Easy, Cost-effective
File size Larger Smaller
Interactivity Easier, Cheaper Harder, More Expensive

Apart from these high-level differences, there are several unique things that make them differ from each other. One of the important ones is the complexity that you can get stuck with when you work with HTML files. Large chunks of content intended for print use can get quite cumbersome in HTML, while PDF represents the perfect medium because of its layering capability and other aspects.

As you can clearly see, PDF has an edge when it comes to cost, viewability, printing, and size. That’s the reason many projects need HTML to be converted to PDF because some can’t accept HTML as input. In other cases, you might want to learn how to change HTML to PDF for the sake of widespread distribution. No matter what device or OS you view it on, a PDF will appear identical in all visual respects.

By stark contrast, HTML is only suitable for web viewing, and trying to make HTML out of a traditionally printed file is expensive and labor-intensive.

Part 2. How to Change HTML To PDF With PDFelement, the All-in-one PDF Solution

PDFelement is a cross-platform, all-in-one PDF solution that makes PDFs simple to handle. The core focus is on giving consumers a user-friendly, intuitive application with advanced features to handle the toughest PDF and document workflows.

What’s even more attractive about the utility is the speed at which feature updates are released. You’ll always find the latest version adds even more value to the previous iteration. Tools such as document comparison, the measurement tool, multilingual OCR, and form field recognition form part of a continuous string of feature additions that come with each new version of Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor.

Some of these features include high-accuracy OCR, high-speed batch processing, language translation, document editing, security, organizing tools, and, of course, file conversion, including HTML to PDF, which we’ll show you how to do below:

Step 1Install PDFelement

Download and install PDFelement from the official downloads page from Wondershare.

Step 2Save from Browser

Open the HTML file on your browser. Click the elliptical icon on the top right, then select 'Print'.

wondershare pdfelement
Step 3Save to PDF

In the print dialog, choose Wondershare PDFelement as your printer or destination.

save pdf from browser

If you need only specific pages, you can define that now.

define the pdf page

Finally, click Print to save and open the file as a PDF.

open and save pdf

The converted PDF file will open in PDFelement, ready for editing and other purposes. A simple, clean way to convert HTML to PDF. From here, you can convert it into a different format, edit it directly, share it with others, upload it to Wondershare Document Cloud for collaboration with others, and other advanced actions.

Part 3. How to Change HTML Files to PDF With Online Tools

There are also several browser-based tools to help you learn how to change HTML files to PDF format. A couple of the best ones have been showcased in the subsequent sections below. The process is equally simple for both, and even if you don’t have the HTML file ready, you can input the URL and let the system fetch the page before converting it to PDF.

The reason we’ve included these two tools and not any of their equally capable rivals is that these two are user-friendly and/or have numerous other file conversion and general PDF capabilities apart from just how to change HTML files to PDF. Moreover, both are capable of taking multiple input types for HTML alone, including the actual HTML file or even just the URL.

Method 1: Use iLovePDF with a Website URL

iLovePDF is a fun-to-use tool with a surprising amount of functionality, and all served through your browser tab. It’s versatile, fast, and fairly accurate when it comes to HTML to PDF conversion. As a popular option for how to change HTML to PDF, iLovePDF leads the way. It offers a range of other conversion tools as well as features such as compression, OCR, conversion to other Office formats, and so on.

Let’s look at the steps involved in changing HTML to PDF.

Step 1 Head to the iLovePDF URL for HTML to PDF Conversion.

ilovepdf

Step 2 Click Add HTML and Input the URL - then Click Add.

add html to ilovepdf

Step 3 Customize the Preview by Controlling Margin, Orientation, etc.

preview pdf

Step 4 Click ‘Convert to PDF’ and wait for the output file to be available for saving.

convert html to pdf by ilovepdf

Method 2: Try CloudConvert by Uploading HTML Files

Another excellent online HTML-to-PDF conversion utility is CloudConvert. It sports an amazing number of conversion combination options, and it’s easy to use and powerful, as well as accurate in terms of rendering content from one format into another.

CloudConvert is a conversion-centric tool that supports not just document conversions but also media files such as videos, audio, archive files, CAD drawings, eBooks, images, vectors, spreadsheets, presentations, and so on.

Let’s see how it works when it comes to URL to PDF conversion of HTML files.

Step 1 Upload your HTML File to The Site Or Paste the URL.

upload pdf to cloudconvert

Step 2 Select HTML and PDF in the First and Second Dropdown Options in the Header.

customize html

Step 3 Click on Convert, Wait for Preview, Then Download the PDF.

convert and download pdf from cloudconvert

Final Words

Online HTML to PDF tools are handy in a pinch, but what if you have a very large HTML file with lots of rich content? You can still convert such a file online, but doing it in a desktop application like PDFelement on Windows or Mac allows you to utilize more system resources to handle very large files and very complex content.

Moreover, many users feel that an offline solution is usually more secure than an online one.

With PDFelement, you do not answer the question of how to convert HTML to PDF, but you get a whole bunch of additional tools to handle your workflows. This includes full editing, forms tools, annotations, security, organizing files and PDF pages, PDF optimization, translation, and a host of other useful features you won’t get to enjoy when working with HTML files all the time.

The best parts are the versatility and cost-effectiveness of PDFelement. On the one hand, it offers everything from PDF creation to conversion into other types; on the other, it’s only a fraction of the cost that you’d incur for the same capabilities in a more premium tool like Adobe Acrobat.

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