Written by Jennifer Walsh. Reviewed for technical accuracy by Shubham Dixit, Independent Expert in Email Forensics and Data File Conversion.
Shubham is an independent external reviewer and not an employee of PCDOTS.
Quick answer. Zimbra has no one-click way to save everything as PDF. For a single email you print it to PDF from the Zimbra web client, which is free. For a whole folder you export your mailbox as a .tgz, then a converter saves each message as a PDF, keeping attachments, or writes one merged PDF. Here are both routes.
On this page
There is no bulk PDF button
Here is the thing to know before you start, the Zimbra web client can print an email to PDF one at a time, but it has no one-click way to save a whole folder as PDF. So the route splits by how much mail you have. A few messages you print by hand, and a folder full you export and convert.
Both give you the same result, ordinary PDF files you can read, search, share and archive anywhere, they just suit different amounts of mail.
A single email prints to PDF, a folder exports then converts, both end in PDF.
“People go looking for a save-as-PDF button in Zimbra and there just is not one for a whole mailbox, only the ordinary print dialog for a single message. So the honest answer is two answers. If it is a few emails, print each to PDF, that is free and takes seconds. If it is hundreds, export the folder as a .tgz from Zimbra and run it through a converter, which writes them all out as PDF with the attachments. Match the effort to the volume.” Shubham Dixit, Data Migration reviewer (draft, pending approval)
One email, print to PDF
For a single message, or a small handful, this is the free native way and it needs nothing extra.
Open the email in the Zimbra Web Client, choose Print, and in the print dialog set the destination to Save as PDF rather than a printer. Zimbra lays the message out cleanly and you get a tidy PDF of that email on your computer. Repeat for each one you want to keep. It is perfect for a few emails and gets tedious past a dozen or so, which is where the folder route comes in.
Export your mailbox first
To do a folder or a whole mailbox at once, you first get the mail out of Zimbra as a file, then convert it. Zimbra exports to a .tgz archive, which is its bundle of your messages.
In the Zimbra Web Client, open Preferences, then Import / Export, choose the account or a specific folder, and export. Zimbra downloads a .tgz file to your computer. That file is what the converter reads in the next step.
A folder, a converter
With the .tgz in hand, a converter turns the whole lot into PDF in one run, no printing each message and no Zimbra install needed. The PCDOTS Zimbra Converter loads your exported Zimbra .tgz, shows the messages, and saves them as PDF, keeping attachments and letting you filter by date or folder so you convert only what you want. It runs on Windows and can write one PDF per email or a single merged PDF. A free version handles the first ten items per folder so you can test it first.
The tool route, for a whole folder of Zimbra mail to PDF at once.
Here are the steps with the screens.
Step 1. Install and run the software on Windows, then open the menu.
Step 2. Choose Zimbra and load your exported .tgz files to see the preview.
Step 3. Open the Export menu and select PDF.
Step 4. Choose a destination folder and Save.
How the PDF is saved
A couple of choices are worth knowing when you save, since they change how the result looks on disk.
Either a file per email or one merged PDF, with attachments kept and text searchable.
For related Zimbra jobs see our guides to migrate Zimbra to Office 365 and move Zimbra to a new server, and for another mailbox saved to disk, save Yahoo emails to a computer.
The methods compared
Match the route to how many emails you are turning into PDF.
| Method | Best for | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Print to PDF from webmail | A few emails, free | One at a time, no export |
| Export .tgz, then convert | A folder or whole mailbox | Bulk, attachments kept |
| Zimbra Converter tool | Bulk, no Zimbra install | Windows, per email or merged |
Frequently asked questions
Can I save all my Zimbra emails as PDF at once?
Not from the web client, it prints only one at a time. To do a folder, export it as a .tgz and convert the whole batch to PDF with a tool.
How do I save a single Zimbra email as PDF for free?
Open it in the Zimbra Web Client, choose Print, and set the destination to Save as PDF. That writes a clean PDF of that message to your computer.
How do I export a Zimbra mailbox to a file?
In the Zimbra Web Client, open Preferences, then Import / Export, pick the account or folder, and export. Zimbra downloads a .tgz archive of your messages.
Do attachments come across into the PDF?
Yes. The converter keeps the attachments with each message when it writes the PDF, so nothing is left behind.
Can I get one PDF per email or a single combined file?
Both. The tool can save each email as its own PDF, or merge a folder into one PDF, whichever suits how you want to store them.
Do I need Zimbra installed to convert the .tgz?
No. The converter reads the exported .tgz on its own, so you can make the PDFs on any Windows computer without Zimbra.
The one thing to know about Zimbra and PDF
If you remember one point from all this, make it this, Zimbra will print a single email to PDF but it will not save a whole mailbox that way, and once you know that the path is obvious. A few emails, print each from the web client and you are done for free. A folder or a mailbox, export it as a .tgz and let a converter write the PDFs, one per email or merged into one, with the attachments kept. The volume decides the route, and either way your Zimbra mail ends up as PDF you can open anywhere.
