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I am wondering if anyone thinks it would make life easier for pages to be downloadable as pdfs. This would allow people to keep them saved on their computers when they are offline. (BTW, this is only a tentative idea, and I am not sure it would work.)

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That is a really good idea. However you can copy it down and paste it into a word, google, or other document. 

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This can be done now. It’s not PDF but if you left click and click save as and download the page. The article you downloaded can be accessed in your browser even without internet. I just tried it! 

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In Google Chrome, go to Print, and next to “Destination,” click “Change,” and click “Save as PDF.”

I support the idea of there being a “Save as PDF” button on wikiHow articles, since it’s an efficient way to download them for offline reading. Wikipedia has that option with its articles, and it might be good to be able to do that with wikiHow articles as well.

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I think the idea is cool, but we have a pretty small engineering team - I’m not sure if it’d be prioritized by staff as a feature (though we could always ask staff themselves).

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Back in the day did we not have links to printable versions of pages?

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@Davecrosby If you click Print in your browser, you should see a printable version. It’s in need of a little reformatting and updating at the moment, and that’s already on the engineering to-do list (eg removing the nonprofit callout section, and probably re-adding images in a more printer-friendly way at some stage)… but the basics are there, allowing you to Print to PDF if you have a Mac (or using PDF/screenshot software, if you have Windows). 

@InfernoTerra ’s advice for saving an article offline also works pretty well. For example, if you’re on Chrome, see:  https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/7343019?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en … It’s even easier on Safari on mobile, with the Reading List:  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200294

I don’t think it’s terribly likely we’d devote engineering time to making another PDF system, because it somewhat reinvents the wheel regarding what many browsers already offer (either PDF printing and/or offline Reading Lists) … and honestly, the majority of readers access us on the go via mobile, and an even bigger majority don’t seem to want printing or PDF options, even from the desktop site. They just want answers right then, so that tends to be what our engineering resources focus on:wink:

There is another nifty feature for offline viewing some people may not know about: if you download the wikiHow app on Android or iOS, you can bookmark articles for offline viewing later. I’ve done that a few times, when I know I’ll want instructions later. It does the trick pretty well!

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PS Does anyone want to write “How to Save a wikiHow Article for Offline Reading”? It could be pretty multimethod, with the app options, “Save as” option on desktop, the Reading List and any other mobile browsing equivalents, and “Print to PDF”… there are a lot of different solutions, depending on readers’ needs and preferences!

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I rarely use Save as on a browser anymore - and besides - Microsoft Edge doesn’t have that option anymore.