iOS generating pdf no longer working, freezes the browser at the print window

In safari and chrome , the following steps should allow to save a pdf from a webpage


select print

tap First page of print preview, sometimes need to do it twice (quirky)

A pdf will be generated, seriously useful.


BUT since an iOS update in the last year this no longer works, a page advising “generating pdf’ appears and the browser locks

the browser has to be killed off just to use it again. The pdf never gets generated


I googled this extensively but google being google brings up nothing of use.


iOS is 17.1.1 iPad Pro

iPad Pro (5th generation)

Posted on Nov 29, 2023 9:25 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 30, 2023 7:41 AM

You can print almost anything to PDF… but the process takes a few steps.


Start by using the Print option in the App from which you are attempting to print; depending upon the App, you may need to use the Share option to find Print.


When the familiar iPad Print page is open, select any print pagination or scaling option as required - then you use a two-finger zoom gesture on any of the thumbnail images that you see to the left of the print page dialogue:




This gesture will open a PDF view of the page. From this PDF page tap the Share icon at top-right:




Tapping the Share icon opens the familiar Share sheet. Scroll down the page until you find the Save to Files option:




Tap Save to Files - and choose the destination path to which you wish to save your PDF. When you have selected the path, finish by tapping the Save button.


From the Share sheet, you can obviously choose any of the other available actions - should you choose to do so.

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Nov 30, 2023 7:41 AM in response to pgeee

You can print almost anything to PDF… but the process takes a few steps.


Start by using the Print option in the App from which you are attempting to print; depending upon the App, you may need to use the Share option to find Print.


When the familiar iPad Print page is open, select any print pagination or scaling option as required - then you use a two-finger zoom gesture on any of the thumbnail images that you see to the left of the print page dialogue:




This gesture will open a PDF view of the page. From this PDF page tap the Share icon at top-right:




Tapping the Share icon opens the familiar Share sheet. Scroll down the page until you find the Save to Files option:




Tap Save to Files - and choose the destination path to which you wish to save your PDF. When you have selected the path, finish by tapping the Save button.


From the Share sheet, you can obviously choose any of the other available actions - should you choose to do so.

Nov 30, 2023 6:51 PM in response to LotusPilot

Many thanks that method works. Apple should fix the issue I highlighted , this is where the generate pdf process used to be possible by clicking, sometime needing to do this twice - the first page of the document . As this method you highlight works fine the fix would be to stop the iPad trying to generate a pdf using the method I was using as it causes the browser/app to freeze

iOS generating pdf no longer working, freezes the browser at the print window

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