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Becky264261791dhz
New Participant
January 17, 2023
Answered

Can not print in grayscale

  • January 17, 2023
  • 6 replies
  • 19633 views

I recently upgraded my computer and installed adobe on it.  On my old computer when printing a PDF I used to be able to click the options "print in grayscale and save ink toner" but they are not working.  In order to printer in black and white everytime I have to go into properties and change it or have to permantley change my printer settings.  Is there a fix to this?

    Correct answer Cari36806378jlwo

    Did you ever fix the error and were able to print?  I am having the same problem, and now cannot print.


    I ended up having to ask our IT consultant for help because I use Adobe in over 50% of the work I do and had to get it working ASAP.  He said he used Acroclean and then the Full Standalone installer in order to repair Adobe.  Then he had to manually install the Preflight piece of Adobe and I can now print black & white pdfs using that.

    6 replies

    M
    miles_1717
    New Participant
    June 19, 2025

    My print as image is not checked, but when I check print in greyscale, my HP 6970 still prints Adobe pdfs in color.  It does not do this with other programs, only on pdfs.

    N
    norman_7603
    New Participant
    June 19, 2025

    did you try a solution that I had posted above? 
    (  Under Menu [top left of screen], under Preferences, under Color Management, under Working Spaces, at Greyscale: select "Sgray".  And, then when you print, select: print in grayscale. )

    Meenakshi Negi
    Community Manager
    Meenakshi NegiCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    June 20, 2025

    Hi miles_1717,

     

    Thank you for reaching out.

     

    Please let us know if you experience this issue with a particular file. Have you made any recent changes to the application or the system?

    Could you please share a screenshot of the print window and printer settings? Please also share the details of the Acrobat, printer, and OS version. 

     

    Feel free to let us know if you need any help.

     

     

    Thanks,

    Meenakshi

    N
    norman_7603
    New Participant
    August 30, 2024

    Found a simple answer.  Under Menu [top left of screen], under Preferences, under Color Management, under Working Spaces, at Greyscale: select "Sgray".  And, then when you print, select: print in grayscale. 

       [ Does anyone know of a tool to do the following:   What I really need to do, if Adobe would create a tool to do it:  convert Color [college] lecture slides having text narration, and (typically) 1 or more photos and/or graphs etc., to:  dark black text against a white background color [or a sufficiently light background color];  together with 0 or 1 or more photos and/or graphs which are retained 'as is'.;  ]  [ or else, a student can always try to ask their instructor is they can have a 'black and white' [greyscale] 'printer friendly' version of the slides': which works off of "a default slide" as consisting of text [change all text colors to black], and possibly a number of photos and/or graphs etc. [these images can be kept as it]. ]       [ Some instructors are very skillful with colorful text and background colors, in their lecture slides. ]

      I
      ink-stampa_8159
      New Participant
      October 1, 2024

      this work for me,

      thank you very much!

      S_S
      Community Manager
      S_SCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      October 4, 2024

      Hi @ink-stampa_8159,

       

      Hope you are doing well. Thanks for letting us know that it worked for you.

       

      What I would suggest here is, when going to the Print Window-> click on Advanced-> uncheck the option "Print as Image."

       

      Click on OK to close the window. This should enable the Print as GreyScale checkbox for you.

       

      Let me know if this works.


      -Souvik

        D
        der.hambi
        New Participant
        August 6, 2024

        Hey you guys! I've experienced this problem too for months now. Privately and in my company. I've found the solution to this;

        Step 1:

        Clean Acrobat from your PC with acrocleaner (https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html#downloads)

        Step 2:

        Download Acrobat Pro via this link but choose the 32-bit Version. In most cases, it will automatically know your adobe account and log you in as soon as you open the new version. No need to restart your pc by the way. Link: https://helpx.adobe.com/de/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-downloads.html

         

        This has finally worked after months of frustration and questioning. 

        Good luck and have fun with a now working grayscale box version :)!

        Best regards from germany

        Leon 

          K
          Kevin369589533blp
          Participating Frequently
          August 7, 2024

          Finally, a real answer to something very important. Adobe should compensate you as I was looking for another pdf editor because Adobe doesn't seem to care about their customers.

            K
            Kevin369589533blp
            Participating Frequently
            May 13, 2024

            I am having the same problem but I think it is a Windows problem as none of my printers will print in grayscale.

            M
            MrsGES
            New Participant
            May 20, 2024

            I am also having this problem on my work laptop and despite trying everything mentioned above, nothing resolves the issue. 

            D
            der.hambi
            New Participant
            August 6, 2024

            Found the permanent solution. Have at look at my latest post on this thread 🙂

              G
              Glowblue1
              New Participant
              October 31, 2023

              I have this same problem. Happens on both Mac and Windows. On Windows, even changing the printer properties didn't help. The only thing that actually worked was to print it in Edge instead... not the most satisfying 'solution'.

                K
                Karen33547107zdi3
                Participating Frequently
                November 11, 2023

                Same problem here, all boxes I could find for gray scale / black-and-white checked and tried, it is simply not working...

                Abambo
                Abambo
                Community Expert
                November 11, 2023

                This problem is printing from Acrobat to a printer. There is either the printer settings (Acrobat sends a colour image, the printer prints black and white like a black and white printer) or the print dialogue setting in Acrobat (I suppose Acrobat sends a black and white document to the printer).

                What options are you using?

                 

                What is your OS and version? What is your printer?

                 

                ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
                AkanchhaS8194121
                AkanchhaS8194121
                Brainiac
                January 17, 2023

                Hi @Becky264261791dhz 

                 

                Thanks for reporting this to us.

                Looking at the description given above, it seems you do not have the option to check-uncheck the "Print in Grayscale," or it's there but not working.

                Is your print dialog box look like this?

                 

                If you have this option missing, then check the following:

                Is the current version of Acrobat and OS installed? Open Acrobat > help> About Acrobat

                • Try Restarting system
                • Open Acrobat>helprepair installation
                • Check with another file and see if that prints fine.

                 

                Note: Acrobat print setting automatically picks the last option selected as default, and when you print next, it considers the same settings. 

                 

                Thanks,

                Akanchha

                B
                Becky264261791dhzAuthor
                New Participant
                January 17, 2023

                Hi Akanccha,

                 

                So I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro.  I tried your repair step and no change.  My screen does look like the screenshot that you posted, the options are there it just will not print in black and white unless I go into properties and physically change it everytime.

                AkanchhaS8194121
                AkanchhaS8194121
                Brainiac
                January 17, 2023

                Thanks for confirming that.

                Try these steps and see if that helps:

                 

                ~Akanchha 

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