How to Print a Webpage to PDF (Without Ads, Without Watermarks — 2026 Chrome Guide)

TL;DR

To print a webpage to PDF in Chrome, press Ctrl + P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + P (Mac), change the Destination to "Save as PDF," and click Save. The built-in method works for simple pages, but it includes every ad, banner, sidebar, and cookie popup in the output. To print a clean, printer-friendly version of the page — or an article without ads — install Convert: Web to PDF. It removes clutter before converting, runs locally, and costs nothing.

Why "print webpage" usually means "print webpage as PDF"

Almost nobody actually sends webpages to a physical printer anymore. When people search "print webpage," they usually mean one of three things:

1. Save the page as a PDF for later reading, archiving, or sharing
2. Make a printer-friendly version of the page — clean text, no clutter — so they can read it offline
3. Print an article without ads (without sidebars, without popup banners, without navigation bars eating a third of every page)

All three come down to the same technical task: convert the webpage to a PDF, clean it up, and save it. This guide covers every method, from Chrome's built-in print dialog to the cleanest possible output you can get.

Method 1: Chrome's built-in "Print to PDF"

Chrome's print dialog has a "Save as PDF" destination built in. It works on every page and needs no extension.

How to print a webpage to PDF in Chrome

1. Open the webpage.
2. Press Ctrl + P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + P (Mac).
3. In the Destination dropdown, choose Save as PDF.
4. Click More settings to adjust paper size, scale, margins, and whether to include background graphics.
5. Click Save. Choose where to save the file.

This is the fastest path for a one-off print, and it's what most guides will tell you to do.

Why the built-in print result usually looks bad

If you've tried Chrome's Print to PDF on a real-world webpage, you already know the problems. Typical output:

• Ads and cookie banners appear in the PDF. Chrome doesn't know which elements you consider clutter, so it captures everything.
• Navigation bars repeat on every page. A sticky nav bar gets stamped across every page of the output.
• Images below the fold are missing. Chrome doesn't scroll the page before printing, so lazy-loaded images often render as placeholders.
• Content breaks awkwardly across pages. A paragraph gets cut in half. A table splits between pages. An image lands on its own page with a paragraph caption on the next one.
• The URL and timestamp get added. Unless you uncheck the "Headers and footers" option in the print dialog, every page ends up with the URL and current date in small grey text.
• Print stylesheets strip your formatting. Some sites have a separate "print.css" that simplifies the design — and it often strips too much.

For simple, text-heavy pages, built-in Print to PDF is fine. For anything with ads, sidebars, or modern layout, you'll want a cleaner option.

Method 2: Print webpage to PDF without ads (the clean way)

This is where a dedicated extension earns its keep. Convert: Web to PDF lets you remove ads, banners, and other clutter before converting — so the printed output actually looks like the article, not the article-plus-website.

How to print a webpage as a clean PDF (step by step)

1. Install Convert: Web to PDF from the Chrome Web Store. One click, no account.
2. Open the webpage.
3. Click the extension icon, or press Ctrl + Shift + P (or Cmd + Shift + P on Mac).
4. Click Remove Elements and click each ad, banner, or sidebar you want gone. They disappear from the preview immediately. (There's an Undo if you hide something by accident.)
5. Or, if you just want the article itself, click Article Mode. The extension uses content extraction to strip everything except the main article text and images.
6. Click Convert. A preview of the final PDF opens.
7. Click Download to save, or Print to send it to a physical printer.

What you end up with

A clean, printer-friendly PDF that looks like the article and nothing else — no cookie banner, no newsletter popup, no "You might also like" section, no site navigation.

Real text. Clickable links. Selectable, searchable content. Zero watermarks from the extension. No account required.

A note on "print article without ads"

This is one of the most searched requests in the web-to-PDF space, and Chrome's built-in print dialog handles it poorly. The built-in "Simplify page" toggle (on some versions of Chrome) is a step in the right direction but is inconsistent across sites. Article Mode in a dedicated extension is far more reliable — it uses the same content-extraction logic that Reader Mode uses, but in a PDF-friendly workflow.

Method 3: Printer-friendly page options (no download needed)

Sometimes you don't actually want a PDF file. You want to print a webpage on paper and just need it to look readable.

How to get a printer-friendly version of a webpage

Use the site's "Print" link if it has one. Many news sites and blogs have a small "Print" or "Printer-friendly version" link near the article. It loads a stripped-down version designed for printing. If it exists, use it.

Use your browser's Reader Mode. Chrome's Reader Mode (enable it under chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode) and Safari's Reader View render a clean version of the article with the ads and sidebars hidden. Print from that.

Use a "Print-Friendly" Chrome extension. Tools like PrintFriendly, Convert: Web to PDF, and others all let you remove clutter before printing. Any of them will give you a cleaner result than printing the raw webpage.

Check if the site offers a printer-friendly link automatically. Some publishers — Reuters, AP News, government sites — offer a "text only" or "print" version at a different URL.

Comparison: built-in print vs. dedicated extension

Feature	Chrome built-in Print to PDF	Convert: Web to PDF
Cost	Free	Free
Removes ads before printing	❌ No	✅ Yes
Article extraction mode	❌ No	✅ Yes
Handles lazy-loaded images	❌ No	✅ Yes
Hides sticky/floating elements	❌ No	✅ Yes
Preview before saving	⚠️ Limited	✅ Full preview
Watermark on output	❌ No	❌ No
Runs 100% locally	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Headers/footers control	⚠️ Basic	✅ Full control
Works on login-protected pages	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Common "print webpage" scenarios

Print a news article without ads or sidebars

Article Mode in Convert: Web to PDF handles this cleanly. It detects the article body, strips everything else, and produces a PDF of just the text, images, and captions. Works on almost every news site, blog, and long-form publisher.

Print documents to PDF from a webpage

Many web apps render document-like content (tables, invoices, reports, receipts) inside a regular webpage. Use the extension's Screen CSS toggle to preserve the on-screen styling when printing to PDF — this avoids the "print stylesheet" problem where sites serve a watered-down version to print mode.

Print a webpage as a PDF without the URL in the footer

In Chrome's built-in print dialog: More settings → Options → uncheck "Headers and footers." With Convert: Web to PDF, headers and footers are off by default — you opt in, rather than opting out.

Print a scrolling webpage as one long page

If you want the entire page on a single PDF sheet (no awkward breaks), use Single Page Mode in the extension. The whole scrolling page becomes one tall PDF page instead of being paginated.

Print an internal dashboard or login-protected page

Convert: Web to PDF runs locally inside your browser, so authenticated pages work fine. Server-based "URL to PDF" services cannot access anything behind a login — they load the URL as an anonymous user and see the login screen.

Frequently asked questions

How do I print a webpage to PDF?

Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) in Chrome, change the Destination to "Save as PDF," adjust any settings, and click Save. For cleaner output without ads, install Convert: Web to PDF.

How do I print a webpage without ads?

Chrome's built-in print doesn't remove ads. Install a Chrome extension with an Article Mode or Remove Elements feature, like Convert: Web to PDF. Click the ads you want gone, then convert — they'll be excluded from the output.

How do I print an article without ads?

Use an article-extraction extension. Open the article, click the extension, choose Article Mode, and download. Only the main article content (headline, text, images, captions) is kept. Everything else — ads, newsletter popups, related articles, navigation — is stripped.

How do I print documents to PDF from a webpage?

Use Chrome's Print dialog (Ctrl/Cmd + P → "Save as PDF"), or a dedicated extension for cleaner output. For web apps that render invoices, receipts, or reports as HTML, the extension's Screen CSS mode preserves the on-screen styling in the PDF.

How do I make a webpage printer-friendly?

Three options: (1) Look for a "Print" or "Printer-friendly" link on the page itself. (2) Enable Chrome's Reader Mode and print from there. (3) Install a printer-friendly Chrome extension that strips ads and sidebars before converting.

How do I print just the article from a webpage?

Use the Article Mode feature in a dedicated extension. It uses content-extraction logic (similar to Reader Mode) to detect the article body and strip everything else — ads, sidebars, navigation, popups. The output is a clean PDF of just the article.

How do I print a webpage without the URL and date?

In Chrome's print dialog, click More settings, scroll to Options, and uncheck Headers and footers. The URL and date will no longer appear in the margins. Dedicated extensions typically have headers and footers off by default.

Why does my printed webpage look different from what I see in the browser?

Some websites serve a separate "print stylesheet" to the browser when you print — it's often a stripped-down version designed for 1990s-era printers. To print the page exactly as it looks on screen, use a Chrome extension with a Screen CSS toggle, which uses the same styles you see in the browser.

Can I print a webpage to PDF that's behind a login?

Yes. Both Chrome's built-in print and local Chrome extensions work on login-protected pages, because they capture whatever your browser is currently showing. Server-based "URL to PDF" services cannot, because they request the page as an unauthenticated user.

How do I print a very long webpage to one PDF without page breaks?

Use a Chrome extension with Single Page Mode — it puts the entire scrolling page onto one continuous PDF sheet. Chrome's built-in print always paginates the output across standard paper sizes (A4, Letter, etc.), so long pages get split across many pages with awkward breaks.

Is there a free Chrome extension for printing webpages without ads?

Yes. Convert: Web to PDF is completely free. Remove ads, switch to Article Mode, or print the full page — all without watermarks, no account, no upload.

Summary

Chrome's built-in Print to PDF is fine for a quick save of a simple page. But for anything involving ads, sticky nav bars, lazy-loaded images, or long articles, it produces messy output.

A dedicated extension solves all of it. Convert: Web to PDF lets you remove ads before converting, extract just the article, handle lazy-loaded images, and keep the output clean. It runs entirely on your device — so it works on login-protected pages — and it's free with no watermarks.

Install Convert: Web to PDF for free →