How to convert Excel to PDF on your Mac

You don't need Excel to turn a spreadsheet into a PDF on a Mac. Apple's Numbers is free, opens .xlsx and .csv files, and exports PDF with a choice of page layout. Koi does it without opening anything: drag the file with Shift held, drop it on PDF, and every sheet is laid out as printable pages beside the original.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Everything about Koi here is what version 1.13 does. Numbers' steps come from Apple's own guide, checked October 21, 2026.

1. Get Numbers from the Mac App Store if it isn't on your Mac. It's free.
2. Drag the .xlsx or .csv onto Numbers' icon. Double-clicking it opens Excel instead, if you have Excel.
3. Choose File, then Export To, then PDF.
4. Pick a page layout, such as Fit each sheet to a single page, and an image quality. Higher quality makes a bigger file.
5. Click Save, give it a name, choose where it goes in the Where menu, and click Export.

Numbers leaves the original as it was, and an Excel file with a password passes it on to the PDF unless you change it in the export window. Apple's guide has every option. Comments only go into the PDF with Fit each sheet to a single page on. The same Export To menu saves Excel, CSV and Numbers '09 copies, so Numbers covers the round trip if someone sends the sheet back.

Fit each sheet to a single page is the one to know about: a wide or long sheet shrinks to one page, which is tidy for a small table and unreadable for a big one. For a sheet of a few hundred rows, leave it off so it runs over several pages.

1. Start dragging the spreadsheet in Finder or on your desktop. Drag several to do them all.
2. While you're still holding it, press and hold Shift. A wheel of formats opens round your pointer.
3. Drop it on PDF. “Budget.pdf” lands beside the original and shows in Finder.

• It reads .xlsx, .xls, .ods, .csv and .tsv.
• Every sheet is laid out as printable pages on the paper your Mac uses, A4, or Letter in the US and its neighbours, and turned sideways when it's wide.
• Pages run down the rows, then across. Each has the sheet's name on top and “Page 2 of 5” under it.
• Each cell shows its value as it last worked out. Bold, italic and column widths carry over, and numbers, percentages, dates and TRUE or FALSE stay what they are.
• The original is never touched. When its folder can't be written to, the PDF goes to Downloads.

All of it is read and written by Koi itself on your Mac, and nothing is sent. The same wheel also saves a sheet as ODS, CSV or TSV, or as XLSX when it started as something else. More on the Shift wheel.

• An invoice made from an Excel template: the PDF can't be edited by mistake, and shows the same on every device.
• A timesheet or a report for a client: every sheet comes out with its name on top and page numbers under, so nothing gets lost in a printout.
• A bank's CSV export: a plain table to file away or print, without opening it in anything.
• A budget for a partner or an accountant who doesn't use Excel: one PDF anyone can open.

Because Koi converts every file you drag, a month of invoices or a folder of timesheets is one drag: each PDF lands beside its spreadsheet with the same name.

• Formulas: a PDF only shows results. Koi uses each cell's value as it last worked out when the file was saved, so save it in Excel or Numbers after your last change.
• Charts and colours: Koi carries over values, bold, italic and column widths. If a chart or the sheet's colours matter in the PDF, export from Numbers.
• Files Koi won't read: Numbers files, password-locked Excel files, and Excel files from before 1997. Use Numbers for those.
• Wide sheets: a sheet with dozens of columns still runs across several pages, even turned sideways. For one page per sheet, use Numbers' Fit each sheet to a single page.
• CSV: a CSV has one sheet and no formatting, so its PDF is a plain table. Koi finds its numbers and percentages, keeps “007” as written, and reads a CSV saved with semicolons, so “12,5” is a number.

Need the sheet to look exactly as it does on screen, charts and colours and all? Open it in Numbers and export. Sending an invoice, a timesheet or a budget as a PDF, or a whole folder of them, without opening a single one? Koi does it in one drag. Moving data rather than printing it? See Excel to CSV on a Mac, and for slides, PowerPoint to PDF. Keeping track of bills rather than sheets? Koi has an expense tracker too.

Numbers is free. Koi has no free plan: Pro is $20 a month, or $192 a year, after a 3-day free trial that needs a card. Lifetime is paid once, from $59. The Shift wheel uses no AI, so it never counts against Koi's usage. See the plans.