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CPAservice
Participating Frequently
January 22, 2023
Answered

Print in Grayscale - still in color

  • January 22, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 7278 views

[Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (64bit) - Windows 10]

I've killed so much time trying to fix this but can not. I select the checkbox to ' Print in Grayscale' but it continues to print in color and the image preview is also in color. I have another computer (both using Windows 10), and this feature works fine. I considered it was my printer, which I unistalled\reinstalled - no change. I changed the Printer to  ' Adobe PDF ' and the grayscale won't turn to black and white. 

I uninstalled\reinstalled Adobe Acrobat Pro DC about 4 times today - I experienced a new problem with this in that when opening it the screen was black and a pop-up 'An Internal Error Occured'. Eventually I did a complete uninstall of Acrobat Pro DC  including deleting all 'Adobe' or 'Creative Cloud' items in RegEdit. 

After I finally got the progrma to open without issue, the grayscale printing in color is still there. 

Any suggestions is appreciated. 

    Correct answer KT Hui

    Just to add to this thread - I have a similar issue as you, however mine is that in addition to the color management only showing the 'Custom' value as you indicated, all the changes that I implement within the Color management settings get reset to Monitor RGB upon application restart. For example if I select any other value for CMYK then the change remains only for the ongoing session and resets back to default Monitor RGB after I reopen the app. Checked registry keys as well and couldn't locate a single key for color management settings or any other pro subscription features; everything else that comes in the default subscription has its settings stored in registry keys.  Would really love to see some kind of solution to the issue.


    The issue shown on the left side of the screen occurs on a clean Windows installation (with no previous Acrobat installed) after installing Acrobat 2025.001.XXXXXX will got the problem.

     

    As a workaround, installing Acrobat 2015, DC, or 2020 first, and then upgrading to the Acrobat subscription version, the settings will be normally display.

     

    I have checked the registry and found no relevant settings. It appears that Adobe stores these settings in C:\Users%username%\AppData. I am currently waiting for an official patch from Acrobat to resolve this issue.

     

    2 replies

    K
    KT Hui
    Participating Frequently
    July 22, 2025

    I am experiencing the same issue on Windows 10 with Adobe Acrobat version 2025.001.205531. Although I select the 'Print in Grayscale' option, documents still print in colour. Additionally, the Colour Management profile appears to be missing in Settings, and when I choose the Monitor RGB - sRGB IEC61966-21 profile, the problem persists.

    Could you please advise whether this is a known issue with Adobe Acrobat, and if so, whether a fix is available or anticipated? Thank you very much for your assistance.

    Amal.
    Community Manager
    Amal.Community Manager
    Community Manager
    July 22, 2025

    Hi there,

    Hope you are doing well and thank you for reaching out and sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue.

     

    We appreciate you sharing the details. Based on what you've described, the ‘Print in Grayscale’ option not working and the missing Color Management profile, please try the steps given below and see if that works for you:

    1. Update the Acrobat Application:
    Please update the Acrobat application to the latest version 25.01.20577 from the help menu > check for updates and reboot the device once.

     

    2. Try Print as Image:
    Go to Print > click on Advanced > check Print as Image, then try printing again.

    3. Use Printer Preferences Directly:
    Instead of selecting grayscale in Acrobat, try setting it in your printer’s properties/preferences dialog (via the Print > Printer Properties menu). 

    4. Check for Driver Updates: 
    Ensure your printer driver is up to date. Visit the printer manufacturer's site and download the latest version for your model and Windows 10. You may also try to remove the printer driver from the system, reboot, and reinstall it from the manufacturer's website and check.

     

    Also check the help page https://adobe.ly/4lGMIGs

     

     

    K
    KT Hui
    Participating Frequently
    July 22, 2025

    Thank you for your suggestion.

    We have downloaded and installed the latest software version, but the issue remains. Under Preferences->Color Management->Setting, Setting profile are nothing and RGB, CMYK and Grayscale are worngly selected profile "Monitor RGB - sRGB IEC61966-21" The problem persists.

    As a workaround, we have been manually changing the Grayscale profiles.

    A
    Abort_Retry_Fail
    Participant
    January 24, 2023

    I had this exact same issue, even the error messages. After multiple reinstalls and using the adobe cleanup tool, i at least can print to pdf in color, but greyscale doesnt work no matter what i do. 

     

    tried all:

    "print in grayscale" checkbox

    "composite gray" option in the adobe advanced section 

    i even tried the "paper/quality option of b/w vs color.

     

    i would love to know what happened here.

     

    windows 10 64bit, adobe acrobat pro 64bit. no plugins, and the prefs was even reset to default. 

    C
    CPAserviceAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 25, 2023

    Misery love company, and weeks later the issue, for me, has not changed 😞

    A
    Abort_Retry_Fail
    Participant
    February 25, 2023

    I solved mine by reinstalling the entire computer.

     

    BUT that is NOT an answer to this problem. 

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