How to Save PDF File in C# (Beginner Tutorial)

Save_Click Method (Create PDF Document)

The following method is an event handler for a button-click event. The purpose of this method is to save the content of a text box as a PDF file.

private void Save_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // Get the file path to save the PDF file.
    string filename = getFilePath();

    // If the file path is not empty or null, proceed with saving the PDF file.
    if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(filename))
    {
        // Create a new instance of the ChromePdfRenderer class.
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

        // Render the file contents of the text box as a PDF document using the ChromePdfRenderer.
        var pdfDocument = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(pdfContent.Text);

        // Save the PDF document to the specified file path using the SaveAs method.
        pdfDocument.SaveAs(filename);

        // Show a message box to indicate that the PDF file has been saved successfully.
        MessageBox.Show("PDF has been saved Successfully!");
    }
}

private void Save_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // Get the file path to save the PDF file.
    string filename = getFilePath();

    // If the file path is not empty or null, proceed with saving the PDF file.
    if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(filename))
    {
        // Create a new instance of the ChromePdfRenderer class.
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

        // Render the file contents of the text box as a PDF document using the ChromePdfRenderer.
        var pdfDocument = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(pdfContent.Text);

        // Save the PDF document to the specified file path using the SaveAs method.
        pdfDocument.SaveAs(filename);

        // Show a message box to indicate that the PDF file has been saved successfully.
        MessageBox.Show("PDF has been saved Successfully!");
    }
}

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of what this method does:

1. The method calls the getFilePath method to get the file path where the PDF file will be saved.
2. If the file path is not empty or null, the method proceeds with saving the PDF file.
3. The method creates a new instance of the ChromePdfRenderer class. This is a library that provides a way to convert HTML content into PDF documents using the Google Chrome browser engine.
4. The method then uses the RenderHtmlAsPdf Method of the ChromePdfRenderer class to convert the HTML content of the text box pdfContent into a PDF document. This PDF document is assigned to the PdfDocument Variable.
5. The method saves the PDF document to the specified file path using the SaveAs Method of the PdfDocument class.
6. Finally, the method shows a message box to indicate that the PDF file has been saved successfully.

getFilePath Method (Save PDF Files)

This method is used to display a SaveFileDialog to the user to select a file path where the PDF file will be saved.

public string getFilePath()
{
    // Create a new instance of the SaveFileDialog class.
    SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog1 = new SaveFileDialog();

    // Set the initial directory where the SaveFileDialog will open.
    saveFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = @"D:\";

    // Set the title of the SaveFileDialog.
    saveFileDialog1.Title = "Save the PDF Files";

    // Set the SaveFileDialog to check if the specified path exists.
    saveFileDialog1.CheckPathExists = true;

    // Set the default extension for the file type.
    saveFileDialog1.DefaultExt = ".pdf";

    // Set the filter to display only PDF files or all files.
    saveFileDialog1.Filter = "PDF files (*.pdf)|*.pdf|All files (*.*)|*.*";

    // Set the filter index to display the PDF filter as the default.
    saveFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 2;

    // Set the RestoreDirectory property to true so that the SaveFileDialog
    // restores the current directory before closing.
    saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = true;

    // Show the SaveFileDialog and get the result.
    if (saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
    {
        // If the user clicked the OK button in the SaveFileDialog, return the selected file path.
        return saveFileDialog1.FileName;
    }
    // If the user did not click the OK button, return an empty string.
    return String.Empty;
}

public string getFilePath()
{
    // Create a new instance of the SaveFileDialog class.
    SaveFileDialog saveFileDialog1 = new SaveFileDialog();

    // Set the initial directory where the SaveFileDialog will open.
    saveFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = @"D:\";

    // Set the title of the SaveFileDialog.
    saveFileDialog1.Title = "Save the PDF Files";

    // Set the SaveFileDialog to check if the specified path exists.
    saveFileDialog1.CheckPathExists = true;

    // Set the default extension for the file type.
    saveFileDialog1.DefaultExt = ".pdf";

    // Set the filter to display only PDF files or all files.
    saveFileDialog1.Filter = "PDF files (*.pdf)|*.pdf|All files (*.*)|*.*";

    // Set the filter index to display the PDF filter as the default.
    saveFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 2;

    // Set the RestoreDirectory property to true so that the SaveFileDialog
    // restores the current directory before closing.
    saveFileDialog1.RestoreDirectory = true;

    // Show the SaveFileDialog and get the result.
    if (saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
    {
        // If the user clicked the OK button in the SaveFileDialog, return the selected file path.
        return saveFileDialog1.FileName;
    }
    // If the user did not click the OK button, return an empty string.
    return String.Empty;
}

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of what this method does:

1. The method creates a new instance of the SaveFileDialog class. This class is part of the Windows Forms library and provides a dialog box that allows the user to select a file path where the PDF file will be saved.
2. The method sets several properties of the SaveFileDialog object to customize its behavior. The InitialDirectory property sets the directory where the dialog box will first open. The Title property sets the title of the dialog box. The CheckPathExists property specifies whether the dialog box should check if the specified path exists. The DefaultExt property sets the default file extension for the file type. The Filter property sets the file type filters that are displayed in the dialog box. The FilterIndex property sets the default filter to display. Finally, the RestoreDirectory property specifies whether the dialog box should restore the current directory before closing.
3. The method shows the SaveFileDialog by calling its ShowDialog method. This method displays the dialog box and returns a DialogResult value that indicates whether the user clicked the "OK" button or the Cancel button.
4. If the user clicks the "OK" button, the method returns the file path that the user selected by accessing the FileName property of the SaveFileDialog.
5. If the user clicks the "Cancel" button or closes the dialog box, the method returns an empty string.

Let's run the project and see the output. Run the project, and the following form will open.

Running Windows Forms project

Enter your PDF content and click on the "Save" button as shown below.

Save dialog box

The following PDF is created.

Created PDF file

IronPDF provides a simple way to convert HTML content into PDF documents and save them to a user-selected file path using the ChromePdfRenderer class and the SaveFileDialog dialog box.