How can I export or download a Knowledge Article as PDF from ServiceNow?

[Wilbur74]

Hi all,

I'm trying to download a Knowledge Article from our ServiceNow portal, but I don't see any built-in option like "Export" or "Download" on the article page. The only visible options are “Subscribe,” “Flag Article,” and “Edit” (for those with permissions). I'm looking for a way to either enable PDF export for end users or understand the best practice to make Knowledge Articles downloadable.

Thanks in advance!

[DrewW]

View the article in its own window and then user the browsers Print option and print to PDF.  Not everyone has a PDF printer.

If you do not like that you are going to have to build a button that takes the HTML and uses the PDFGenerationAPI to create one and attach it to the KBA.

[kmohammed]

Hi Wilbur 👋 — great question, and one that comes up quite a bit.

By default, **ServiceNow's Knowledge Portal (Service Portal or Next Experience)** doesn't provide a built-in "Export as PDF" option on Knowledge Article pages for end users. That said, there are a couple of approaches you can consider depending on your needs:

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## ✅ Quick Options:

**Option 1:**
- Open the article in its own window
- Use your browser’s **Print → Save as PDF** option
*(works fine for simple formatting and if you just need a PDF copy on the fly)*

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## ✅ Better Long-Term Solution:

**Option 2:**
If you want a formal **"Download as PDF" button** for Knowledge Articles:
- Use ServiceNow’s **PDF Generation API** or **Document Templates API**
- Create a **UI Action** (button) or **Declarative Action** on the Knowledge form or article view
- This action can call a Script Include or server-side script to generate a PDF from the article content and attach it to the record or download it directly.

Here’s a helpful doc to get started:
- [PDF Generation API Docs](https://developer.servicenow.com/dev.do#!/reference/api/utah/server/no-scope/pdf-generation-api)

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## 📌 Pro Tip:
If you’re using **Next Experience (UI Builder)**, you can also add a **Declarative Action button** to the Knowledge Article record page to trigger PDF generation and download using an API action.

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## ✅ Summary:
- **Quick fix**: Use browser’s **Print to PDF**
- **Ideal fix**: Build a **custom "Download as PDF" button** using ServiceNow’s PDF Generation API

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Hope this helps Wilbur! If it does, would appreciate it if you mark this post as helpful so it can assist others as well. 🙌

Happy building!