I Fixed Microsoft Learn! Well, One Bit of It

Microsoft Learn is a fantastic resource. If you are studying for a Microsoft certification, there is a good chance you already spend a considerable amount of time there.

There is also a good chance you spend quite a lot of that time clicking Next.

Learning paths contain modules, modules contain pages, and somewhere between opening another browser tab and finding the section you were reading yesterday, the simple business of studying starts to involve rather more navigation than I would like.

Sometimes I just want the course material in a document. Something I can read, search, annotate and take with me. So I built MS Learn to PDF.

Despite the name, it does rather more than PDFs.

Your course, in a format that suits you

The idea is simple: take Microsoft Learn training content and make it available in formats that are easier to use away from the website.

There are three options:

• PDF — Download learning paths with images, formatting and links preserved. Useful when you want a familiar document to read or annotate.
• EPUB — Read the material as an eBook on a compatible eReader or reading app.
• Plain text — Use the course content with ChatGPT, a local language model or another AI tool.

You can also download a complete course as a ZIP containing the PDFs, EPUBs and text files. That gives you the different formats together, ready to use however you prefer to study.

The catalogue includes courses such as AZ-104, AZ-900, AI-103 and SC-500, with more available on the site.

If you prefer studying in the browser, Microsoft Learn is still there. If you would rather sit down with an eBook, you now have that option too.

The plain text option is one of my favourites

PDF is the obvious headline feature, but the text files are particularly useful when studying with AI.

Asking an AI tool to help you revise for a certification is easy. Giving it the actual course material helps you make the request much more specific.

You can upload the text for the course or learning path you are studying and ask it to explain a difficult topic, summarise a module, prepare revision notes or generate practice questions based on that material.

For example:

Using only the course material I have supplied, ask me five practice questions, one at a time. Wait for my answer before explaining the correct answer. Identify the relevant module or section so I can revisit it. If the material does not contain enough information, say so.

That gives you something more focused than a general conversation about everything an AI model might associate with Azure. You could also ask:

Explain the concepts in this module in plain English, then ask me three questions to check my understanding.

The aim is to make the course content the reference point for the conversation. You can ask for a different explanation, test yourself and return to the relevant section when something does not quite click.

Plain text also avoids asking the AI tool to extract the words from a large PDF when the words are what you wanted it to work with in the first place.

These are generated practice questions, of course, rather than official exam questions. Keep the supplied material to hand and check the explanations against it.

Keeping up with Microsoft

Anyone who works with Microsoft cloud services knows that documentation does not sit still for very long. Sometimes it feels as though a product has acquired a new name before you have finished learning the old one.

The site is designed to check for new and updated Microsoft courses every week.

A downloaded file is still a snapshot of the material, so it is worth returning for a fresh copy when you revisit a course. Having a convenient study pack is useful; revising indefinitely from an old copy is rather less so.

Give it a try

MS Learn to PDF is free to use.

Find your course, download the format that works for you and give it a go. I would appreciate your feedback, particularly how you use the files in your own study routine.

You can leave a comment on the YouTube video. There is also an optional Buy Me a Coffee link on the site if you would like to support the project.

Hopefully it means a little more time learning and a little less time clicking Next.

MS Learn to PDF is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.