How to Save Output to a File in PowerShell

To save output to a file in PowerShell, pipe it to Out-File, or use the > redirection operator, which does the same thing:

Get-Service | Out-File -FilePath C:\Reports\services.txt
Get-Service > C:\Reports\services.txt

Both save the output exactly as it looks on screen. Below I compare every option with the same three sample orders, so you can see which file each one produces.

Which method should you use?

Method	What ends up in the file	Best for
Out-File, >	The text you see on screen	Quick logs and reports to read
>>, Out-File -Append	Same, added to the end	Growing log files
Set-Content, Add-Content	Each object as a plain string	Writing strings and lines
Tee-Object	Screen text, and still shown	Watching output while saving it
Export-Csv	Properties as CSV columns	Data you’ll open in Excel or import later

Out-File has the most options of these methods, and they’re covered in PowerShell Out-File.

Save output with Out-File

Here are the sample orders I used. Every example below starts with this array:

$orders = @(
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1001'; City = 'Austin';  Items = 3 }
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1002'; City = 'Denver';  Items = 1 }
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1003'; City = 'Seattle'; Items = 12 }
)

Out-File writes the same table you’d see in the console:

$orders = @(
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1001'; City = 'Austin';  Items = 3 }
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1002'; City = 'Denver';  Items = 1 }
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1003'; City = 'Seattle'; Items = 12 }
)

$orders | Out-File -FilePath .\orders.txt
Get-Content -Path .\orders.txt

Output:

Order    City    Items
-----    ----    -----
ORD-1001 Austin      3
ORD-1002 Denver      1
ORD-1003 Seattle    12

Add -Append to add to an existing file, and -NoClobber to refuse to overwrite one. PowerShell Out-File covers width and encoding options in depth.

Use > and >> redirection

> creates or overwrites a file, and >> appends to it. They’re shortcuts for Out-File and Out-File -Append:

'Report started: 2026-10-04 08:00' > .\run-log.txt
'Orders processed: 3' >> .\run-log.txt
'Report finished: 2026-10-04 08:02' >> .\run-log.txt
Get-Content -Path .\run-log.txt

Output:

Report started: 2026-10-04 08:00
Orders processed: 3
Report finished: 2026-10-04 08:02

This is my go-to for a quick log in a script. For timestamps and log levels, see writing to a log file in PowerShell.

Set-Content and Add-Content write strings, not tables

Set-Content doesn’t format anything. It turns each object into a string, which for custom objects looks like this:

$orders = @(
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1001'; City = 'Austin';  Items = 3 }
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1002'; City = 'Denver';  Items = 1 }
    [pscustomobject]@{ Order = 'ORD-1003'; City = 'Seattle'; Items = 12 }
)

$orders | Set-Content -Path .\orders-set.txt
Get-Content -Path .\orders-set.txt

Output:

@{Order=ORD-1001; City=Austin; Items=3}
@{Order=ORD-1002; City=Denver; Items=1}
@{Order=ORD-1003; City=Seattle; Items=12}

That’s why Set-Content is the wrong tool for command output but the right one for text you build yourself. Add-Content appends lines in the same way. See PowerShell Add-Content and writing a string to a file.

Save and show output with Tee-Object

Out-File hides the output from the console. Tee-Object saves it and passes it on, so you see it too:

Get-Date -Date '2026-10-04' -Format 'dddd, MMMM d, yyyy' | Tee-Object -FilePath .\run-date.txt
"Saved to file: $(Get-Content -Path .\run-date.txt)"

Output:

Sunday, October 4, 2026
Saved to file: Sunday, October 4, 2026