How to Download PDF Files from Safari on Mac
Wondering how to download and save PDF files from Safari to a Mac? If you frequently encounter and work with PDF documents on the web, you might be interested in saving them locally to your Mac from time to time. With Safari, it’s easy to open, save, and download PDF files to the Mac.
You may have noticed that default Safari will automatically open PDF files that are clicked into in-browser windows. That can confuse some users at first, but it ends up being OK because if we’re looking to save a PDF file that makes it very easy to do as you’ll see.
How to Download & Save PDF Files from Safari to Mac
Opening PDF files in Safari on the Mac allows them to be easily downloaded and saved to the computer, here’s how the process works:
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- Open Safari on the Mac if you haven’t done so yet
- Go to the PDF file in Safari that you want to save to the Mac
- With the PDF file open in Safari, pull down the “File” menu and choose “Save As”
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- Name the PDF file and select the destination to download the PDF file to and then click “Save” to download and save the PDF file locally to the Mac at that destination
In the example image here, we’re downloading a PDF document of a study (https://www.gwern.net/docs/longevity/2019-decabo.pdf) and saving it locally to the Mac desktop where it can be easily found.
How to Download PDF Files from a Link in Safari
If you want to download a linked PDF file in Safari to the Mac, that works the same as downloading any other linked item in Safari on the Mac:
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- Right-click on the PDF file link and choose “Download Linked File As”
- Save the PDF file to the Mac destination as desired
=> You can use either method to download and save PDF files to the Mac.