# Convert Keynote to PDF

Canonical HTML: [https://pdfpix.com/guides/convert-keynote-to-pdf/](https://pdfpix.com/guides/convert-keynote-to-pdf/)

Keynote makes its own PDF, and no converter here reads a .key file. On a Mac choose File, Export To, PDF and tick Include presenter notes if you want them under each slide. On an iPad or iPhone tap More, Export, PDF. The export keeps the text selectable. If the PDF is too large to send, Compress PDF gets it under the limit.

## Steps

1. **Open the deck and choose File, Export To, PDF.** The export sheet lists the options that matter: presenter notes, build stages, skipped slides and image quality. Set them before you click Next.
2. **Decide about notes and builds.** Include presenter notes puts each slide on a page with its notes below. Print each stage of builds makes one page per build step, which multiplies the page count.
3. **Pick the image quality.** Good is the smallest, Best is for print. A deck full of photos can be five times larger at Best than at Good.
4. **Export, then check the size.** If the file is over the limit, drop it on Compress PDF with the limit as the target. The tool shrinks the file and reads it back before it offers the download.

## What the Keynote export options do

The Export To PDF sheet is the whole story for convert Keynote to PDF, and each box changes the result.

- Include presenter notes. Each page shows the slide at the top and the notes below. This is the "Keynote to PDF with notes" that a speaker wants for the lectern.
- Print each stage of builds. A slide with five bullet builds becomes five pages. Leave it off for a handout, on when the build order carries meaning.
- Include skipped slides. Off by default, so hidden slides stay hidden.
- Image quality. Good, Better or Best. It changes the JPEG quality of the pictures on the slides and nothing else.
- Require password to open. Encrypts the PDF. Leave it off for a file a portal has to open.

The export writes real text, so a reader can select and search the slides. Fonts are embedded. Transitions and animations are dropped, because a PDF has no motion; a video on a slide becomes its poster frame.

## Handout layouts: several slides on a page

The Export sheet has no handout layout. Use File, Print instead. The print dialog shows Slide, Grid, Handout and Outline layouts, lets you put two, three, four or six slides on a sheet, and offers a checkbox for presenter notes. Then open the PDF menu at the bottom left and choose Save as PDF. The result is a normal PDF with the handout layout baked in.

The Handout layout with three slides per page leaves lined space for notes on the right, which is what most people mean when they ask for a printable deck. Grid with six per page is the compact review copy.

## Keynote on iPad, iPhone and iCloud.com

Open the deck, tap the More button (three dots), tap Export, then PDF. The same options appear: notes, builds, skipped slides and image quality. The share sheet then lets you save to Files or send the file by Mail or Messages. On iCloud.com, open Keynote, open the deck, click the More button and choose Download a Copy, then PDF. That works from any browser and does not need a Mac.

### No Apple device at all

Ask for a PowerPoint export. Keynote writes a .pptx that keeps the slides and notes, and [PowerPoint to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/powerpoint-to-pdf/) converts it here in the browser tab, one file at a time, and proves the slide text reached the PDF before the download. The PowerPoint route in general is in [Convert PowerPoint to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/guides/convert-powerpoint-to-pdf/).

## Getting the PDF small enough to send

A photo-heavy deck exported at Best can be 30 MB or more. Two things help. First, export at Good if the pictures only need to look right on a screen. Second, and this works whatever quality you chose, drop the PDF on [Compress PDF](https://pdfpix.com/compress-pdf/) and type the size limit as the target. The tool tries more than one compression method, keeps the smallest result that still opens, and reads it back so the page count and the slide text are confirmed. The text stays selectable in the compressed file.

Compressing a PDF is reversible in the sense that the Keynote file is untouched. You can always export again at a different quality. For the reverse direction, when someone sends you a PDF and you need slides you can edit, [Convert a PDF to Keynote](https://pdfpix.com/guides/convert-a-pdf-to-keynote/) goes through PowerPoint. Numbers has its own export with page layout controls, covered in [Convert Numbers to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/guides/convert-numbers-to-pdf/), and the rest of the Office and Apple guides are under [PDF, Word and Excel help](https://pdfpix.com/guides/office/).

## Questions and answers

### How do I export Keynote as a PDF with the notes?

Choose File, Export To, PDF and tick Include presenter notes. Each page then holds one slide with its notes underneath. On an iPad the same box appears under More, Export, PDF.

### Can I put several Keynote slides on one PDF page?

Yes, through the print dialog. Choose File, Print, pick Grid or Handout, set the slides per page, then choose Save as PDF from the PDF menu.

### Why does my Keynote PDF have far more pages than slides?

Print each stage of builds was on. Every build step became a page. Export again with that box off to get one page per slide.

### Do the animations and transitions survive in the PDF?

No. A PDF is a set of still pages. Builds can be spread across pages with the build option, but movement, sound and video are dropped. A video shows its poster frame.

### Is the text in the exported Keynote PDF selectable?

Yes. Keynote embeds the fonts and writes real text. Text that you placed as an image, or text inside a pasted screenshot, is the only part a reader cannot select.

### Can I convert a Keynote file to PDF on Windows?

Through iCloud.com. Put the .key file in iCloud Drive, open it in Keynote for iCloud, click More and choose Download a Copy, then PDF. Or export a .pptx from Keynote and convert that here.

### How small can the compressed Keynote PDF get?

It depends on the pictures. The tool shows the size it reached against the target you typed. Slide text and vector shapes take almost no space; photos are what shrinks.

## Related pages

- [Compress PDF](https://pdfpix.com/compress-pdf/): Make a PDF smaller without turning its text into a picture. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [Turn a PowerPoint into a PDF](https://pdfpix.com/powerpoint-to-pdf/): Turn a PowerPoint presentation into a PDF without uploading it. The file stays in your browser. No upload, no account needed.
- [Convert a PDF to Keynote](https://pdfpix.com/guides/convert-a-pdf-to-keynote/): Turn a PDF into a Keynote deck you can edit. Free, in your browser, with PDF to PowerPoint.
- [Convert PowerPoint to PDF](https://pdfpix.com/guides/convert-powerpoint-to-pdf/): Turn a PowerPoint deck into a PDF, one slide per page. Free, in your browser, with PowerPoint to PDF.
- [PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint help](https://pdfpix.com/guides/office/): Find the right guide for PDFs inside Excel, Word and other software. Every guide on the job, sorted by the problem you have.