Printing Black and White in Adobe Acrobat Pro 9

My biggest challenge is printing pdfs of schematic diagrams where color is used to signify "layers" in a drawing.  Hardest one to read is "yellow" on white for lines or text.

I found a solution, however it may apply to my specific printer only (Sharp MX-2300N).

From  the print dialog, select "Properties" next to the printer name.

From the priter properties popup, select the "Main" tab, and check "Black and White print".

From the "Color" tab, make these selections:

  Color Mode:  Select "black and white"

  Color Adjustment:  Check "Text to Black"

  Color Adjustment:  Check "Vector to Black"

Other printers may have similar configuration options.

I also got annoyed with this problem. There is an easy way around it.

Import the graphic into the free XnView. Select "Image" then "convert to grey"

Save as pdf

My color pdfs will print out in B&W and/or grayscale. You may be setting the print options to B&W or grayscale, but you still need to inform the printer device to override the default Adobe settings and go with the B&W settings of the device. Different printers will have different options: typically look for Advanced settings labeled ICm or Image Color Management and make sure that the ICM is set to be handled by the printer and not by Adobe and then choose your black and white or gray scale settings. You can even create a grayscale copy of a color pdf if you expect to print it out often and are fearful of forgetting to change the settings.

The best way to do this is within the printer driver to your printer not within Acrobat. If you wish to Acrobat can use its preflight capability to change nonprotected pdfs to greyscale.