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How to turn your newsletters into one PDF

By Alex Royea. Updated .

Newsletters arrive one at a time, in an inbox full of other things. Reading a week of them together, in one file, is a different experience. You can read the file on a tablet with notifications off, or print it and read it on paper. You can build it yourself with tools already on your computer. Here is how, and what it costs you in time.

Step 1: Choose the posts

Pick a set you would read in one sitting. Five or six longer pieces is plenty. Open each one on the web rather than in your inbox: a post's web page saves to PDF more cleanly than most email layouts, which are built for a narrow phone screen. Stick to posts you have access to, and keep the file for your own reading.

Step 2: Save each post as a PDF

Do this once for each post.

  1. Turn on reader mode if your browser has one that prints: Reader in Safari, Reader View in Firefox, Immersive Reader in Edge. It removes subscribe buttons, share bars and comments. Chrome's Reading mode opens in a side panel and does not print.
  2. Open the print dialog with Ctrl and P, or Command and P on a Mac.
  3. Set the destination to Save as PDF. On a Mac, the PDF menu at the bottom of the print dialog does the same.
  4. Use the same paper size for every post, Letter or A4. Mixed sizes make an untidy file, and an untidy printout.
  5. Keep the margins at Default. Turn off headers and footers, which add the date and web address in tiny type, and background graphics.
  6. Check the preview. If the comments came along, set a custom page range that stops where the essay ends.
  7. Save with a number at the front of the file name, like 01-title.pdf and 02-title.pdf. The numbers keep the order when you combine the files.

To drop an image or a subscribe box that reader mode kept, right-click it, choose Inspect, then right-click the highlighted line and choose Delete element. Do this before you open the print dialog. Reloading the page puts it back.

Step 3: Combine the files

  • On a Mac: open the first PDF in Preview and choose View, then Thumbnails. Drag the other PDFs into the thumbnail sidebar, in order. Then choose File, then Export as PDF, and save the combined file under a new name.
  • On Windows: there is no built-in way to merge PDFs. A free, open-source app such as PDFsam Basic does it on your own computer: add the files, check the order, and merge.
  • On Linux: pdfunite, part of the Poppler tools, merges from the command line. List the files in order, then the name of the new file.

Online merge sites work too, but they mean uploading your files to someone else's server. For posts from a paid subscription, keep the work on your own machine.

Step 4: Make it easier to read

  • Add a first page that lists what is inside. Type the titles and writers into a blank document, save it as a PDF, and put it at the front when you combine.
  • Before you print, check the total page count. Long comment sections and large images can double it.
  • Print double-sided to use half the paper.
  • On a tablet, open the file in an app that remembers your place, so you can read it over a few sittings.

Where this falls short

  • It takes time. Six posts is six rounds of reader mode, print settings and file names, then the merge. Next week, you do it again.
  • The pages do not match. Each post keeps its own fonts, image sizes and page breaks. It reads like a stack of printouts, because it is one.
  • Nothing ties it together. There is no cover, and page numbers do not run across the file.
  • Reader mode misses things. Footnotes, captions and pull quotes sometimes drop out, and subscribe boxes sometimes stay.

What Postpile does differently

Postpile builds that one PDF for you, from the newsletters you read, with no steps per post. You list up to 10 newsletters. For now they have to be on Substack. We pick up to 6 essays from their recent free posts and set them in one consistent design: a cover with your name and that issue's writers, letter-size pages, and every piece credited to its writer with a link to subscribe.

Paid posts are never used. Posts that do not work on paper, like podcasts, videos and mostly-image posts, are skipped. If we cannot find at least 3 printable essays, we email you to say so rather than send a thin issue. You confirm your email address first, and the PDF arrives by email once it is built. Read it on a screen or print it, at home or anywhere else.

Your first two issues are free. Pick your newsletters and get the PDF.