Suddenly, my Word files in grey are converting to black in PDF. I am on mac 26.6.2, running Word 365, with adobe.

YAY!!! The first option worked, I am so relieved. Sending enormous thanks. 

​@lizb94558833 Sounds like Microsoft Word has recently updated their app and maybe the PDF export was forgotten? Try exporting via Print - Save as PDF, turn off PDF/A, and make sure your gray is a real gray color rather than black at reduced opacity.

Hi @lizb94558833,

Thank you for reaching out, and we understand how stressful this is with your book nearing Print.

To make sure we understand: you're creating PDFs from a Word 365 file on Mac (macOS 26.6.2), and gray text that was working correctly before is now appearing solid black in the resulting PDF.

A couple of things worth checking, since the cause can depend on exactly how the PDF is being created:

• If you're printing from Acrobat on Mac, open the Print dialog and check whether Print in grayscale (black and white) is selected. Try unchecking it and printing or saving again to see if the gray text comes through correctly.

• If the text only looks black when you open the file in Acrobat, but not for others who open the same file, check Preferences > Accessibility > Document Colors Options and confirm Replace Document Colors isn't turned on, since that setting changes how document colors are displayed. More detail: https://adobe.ly/4xaJfos

To help narrow this down further, could you let us know:

• Exactly how you're generating the PDF from Word (Save As PDF within Word, the Acrobat ribbon "Create PDF" button, or File > Print)

• Whether the gray still shows as black when you open the same PDF in another app, like Preview on Mac

• Whether this happens with new files, too, or only this one

Please share these details, and we'll take it from there.

Thanks,
^BS