Printing a PDF in black and white is one checkbox once you find it. The trouble is finding it, since every app hides it somewhere different. Then there's the surprise that "grayscale" can still use color ink. Here's where the setting lives, what to do when it's missing, and how to make a PDF that prints gray on any printer.
Open the print dialog, find the color setting and switch it to black and white or grayscale. The hard part is that every app puts that setting somewhere different, and some hide it behind the printer driver. Here's where it lives in the apps people actually use:
| App | Where to look | What to choose |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Acrobat or Reader | Print dialog, near the top | Tick "Print in grayscale (black and white)" |
| Chrome or Edge | Print preview panel | Set the Color (or Color mode) option to Black and white |
| Mac (Preview or any app) | Print dialog, printer options section | Look for Black & White, Grayscale or Color: Off. The label comes from the printer driver |
| Windows printer driver | Printer properties or Preferences | Usually a Color tab or a Grayscale checkbox on the Paper/Quality tab |
| Linux or Mac Terminal (CUPS) | Command line | lp -o print-color-mode=monochrome file.pdf |
If you print the same kind of document every week, set it once in the printer's defaults rather than in each app. On Windows that's Printing Preferences in Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. On a Mac you can save the print dialog's settings as a preset and pick it next time.
Usually because the app only shows options the printer reports. Chrome hides its Color menu completely if the driver doesn't say the printer can do color, which is also why the menu disappears on a black-and-white laser. That's fine, since that printer can only print black anyway.
On a color printer with no option showing, the setting is in the driver. In Chrome, click "Print using system dialog" at the bottom of the preview. On a Mac, open the menu in the middle of the print dialog and go through the printer-specific sections. Generic drivers, like the driverless AirPrint and IPP Everywhere ones, usually still offer a simple color on/off switch. If the switch really isn't there, convert the PDF itself (see below), and the printer setting won't matter.
It can, which surprises a lot of people. "Grayscale" tells the printer to print without color, not which cartridges to use. Many inkjets build grays by mixing cyan, magenta and yellow with black, because it looks smoother than black dots alone. Inkjets also use some color ink for routine nozzle maintenance, whatever you print.
| Setting | What it does | Ink or toner used |
|---|---|---|
| Color | Prints as designed | Color ink or toner on every page with color |
| Grayscale (print setting) | Converts color to shades of gray at print time | Many inkjets still mix gray from color inks for smoother shading |
| Black ink only (if your driver has it) | Uses only the black cartridge | Saves color ink; photos and shading look coarser |
| Convert the PDF to grayscale | Makes a new PDF with no color in it | Prints the same on any printer, any app, every time |
If saving color ink is the goal, look for a "black ink only" or "black cartridge only" choice in the driver's advanced or quality settings. Laser printers are simpler: monochrome mode really does use black toner only.
Because color turns into gray by brightness, not by importance. Yellow highlighting comes out almost white. Light blue links and pale chart colors turn into faint gray that's hard to read, and two chart series in red and green can become the same gray. Dark text on white, which is most documents, prints perfectly.
If a chart is unreadable in gray, print that page in color and the rest in black and white. Our extract PDF pages tool pulls specific pages into their own file: type something like 3,7,12-14 for the color pages, then make a second file with the rest (1-2,4-6,8-11,15-40 for a 40-page report). Print one in color and one in grayscale. If you'd rather cut the file into chunks at fixed points, PDF split does that, and PDF merge joins the pieces back into one file afterwards.
Converting the file is the most reliable route when you're sending it to a print shop, a school printer or anyone else whose settings you can't control. A gray file prints gray everywhere.
Gray converts every color to gray, and since version 9.11 you don't need any other color settings.Here are the commands for Linux, Mac Terminal or WSL:
| Task | Command |
|---|---|
| Print once in black and white | lp -o print-color-mode=monochrome report.pdf |
| See what your driver calls it | lpoptions -p YourPrinter -l (look for ColorModel or similar) |
| Make it the default for one printer | lpoptions -p YourPrinter -o print-color-mode=monochrome |
| Convert the PDF to grayscale (Ghostscript) | gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sColorConversionStrategy=Gray -o gray.pdf report.pdf |
Check the converted file before you print 200 copies. Scanned pages can come out larger, and a few PDFs with spot colors from print design software won't convert cleanly.
Yes. They're separate settings, and you can set both in the same dialog. In CUPS, combine them: lp -o print-color-mode=monochrome -o sides=two-sided-long-edge file.pdf. For flipping by hand, odd pages and edge choice, see how to print a PDF double-sided. If the PDF won't print at all, start with why won't my PDF print.
Press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac) and tick "Print in grayscale (black and white)" in the print dialog, then print. The setting is in the free Reader as well as Acrobat Pro.
Apps only show options the printer driver reports. Chrome hides its Color menu for printers that don't report color. On a color printer, open the system dialog or printer preferences, or convert the PDF to grayscale so the setting no longer matters.
Not always. Many inkjets mix gray from color inks in grayscale mode. Look for a "black ink only" option in the driver if you want to save the color cartridges. Laser printers in monochrome mode use only black toner.
On a Mac, open it in Preview, choose File > Export and pick the Gray Tone Quartz Filter. On any system with Ghostscript, run gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sColorConversionStrategy=Gray -o gray.pdf input.pdf.
Yes. Pull the color pages into one file and the rest into another with a page extractor, then print the first in color and the second in black and white. Most print dialogs can't mix color modes inside one job.