To download a tex file from Overleaf, open your project in the editor, click the Menu button in the upper-left corner, and select Download > Source to save a .zip archive containing all your .tex files and resources. This is the quickest official method for getting the raw LaTeX source for offline editing, backup, or journal submission, much like how you might download Google sheets to desktop for offline spreadsheet work. If your workflow also involves sharing formatted drafts for review, you may need to download Google docs with comments as PDF to preserve collaborative feedback.
Why download a .tex file from Overleaf?
Overleaf is an online collaborative LaTeX editor widely used for scientific and technical documents because of its precise control over formatting and mathematical equations. Downloading your project's source files gives you a local backup, lets you continue working without an internet connection, and provides the exact file structure that many journals or conferences require when they ask for LaTeX source. The source archive includes everything needed to typeset your document locally, so you are not locked into the cloud.
Sign in and open your project
Go to Overleaf and sign in to your account. You will land on your Projects dashboard, which lists all your saved documents. Locate the project you want to download and click its name to open it in the editor. If you have multiple .tex files within the project, you can switch between them using the file tree on the left or the tabs at the top of the editor, but for downloading the whole source, it does not matter which file is currently selected.
Download your .tex file
The official way to download the source is through the Menu, not the toolbar. Here are the steps:
- Click the Menu button in the upper-left corner of the editor window.
- Scroll to the Download section of the menu.
- Select the Source icon or the option labeled "Download as source (.zip)".
- Wait for the archive to generate, this may take a few seconds for larger projects.
- Check your device's default downloads folder for a .zip file named after your Overleaf project.
That .zip file contains all source files: your .tex files, figures, bibliographies, and any other resources required to typeset the document. It does not include the compiled PDF, so if you need that too, you must download it separately (see the next section). Once unzipped, you can open the main .tex file in any LaTeX editor or plain-text editor and work offline.
Getting only the compiled PDF (separate step)
If your goal is just the finished document rather than the source, open the same Menu and choose Download > PDF. The PDF is never bundled inside the source .zip, Overleaf keeps the compiled output separate, so download it independently whenever you need a printable or shareable version. This is useful for submitting to a journal that wants both the source and the typeset output, or for quickly sending a read-only copy to a collaborator.
Download multiple projects at once
When you need to back up several documents or move them to another system, you do not have to download them one by one. Go to your Projects dashboard, select the checkboxes next to the projects you want, and click the Download icon that appears. Overleaf will package everything into a single master .zip file, and inside that archive you will find one separate .zip for each selected project. This is the fastest way to export a whole collection of LaTeX work in one action.
Locate your .tex files on your computer
After the download finishes, navigate to your downloads folder and find the .zip file, it will have the same name as your Overleaf project by default. Double-click to unzip it, and you will see the project's file tree: the main .tex file, any additional .tex files (like chapters or sections), image files, .bib bibliographies, and other assets. To compile the document locally, keep all these files together in the same folder; moving or deleting any of them can break the build. The main .tex file is typically the one that matches the project name or contains the \documentclass command, and opening that file in your LaTeX distribution will reproduce the document exactly as it appears in Overleaf.
For the wider topic, see download Google doc.
