How to detect "Print in grayscale (black and white)" checkbox state in Adobe Acrobat print dialog fr

[arabazahamad]

Hi Adobe Community,

I'm developing a macOS native CUPS printer backend and facing an issue with Adobe Acrobat's print workflow.

In the Adobe print dialog, there's a top-level checkbox labeled “Print in grayscale (black and white)”. However, when users select this checkbox, my backend does not receive any related job option like ColorModel, cupsColorMode, or even a custom flag such as com.adobe.print.GrayscalePrint.

When users instead go through the “Printer…” button and select Color Mode: Grayscale from the system dialog, then my backend correctly receives ColorModel=Gray.

My questions:

• Does the grayscale checkbox modify the job in a way that doesn't emit CUPS job options?

• Is there a documented way to detect if the “Print in grayscale” checkbox was checked?

• If not, what’s the recommended method to distinguish between user-intended grayscale vs. color when printing from Adobe Acrobat?

Any insights or Adobe-specific flags I can check for in the backend would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Let me know if you want to add screenshots or reference your PPD capabilities in the post as well.

[S. S]

Hi @arabaz_9459,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

I am forwarding this to the engineering team for further investigation and a better response.

Meanwhile, any information, such as screenshots for both scenarios where you check the option in Acrobat compared to the print settings, along with any other info that might help them assist you better, would be really appreciated.

Regards,
Souvik.

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from using the community">

[S. S]

Hi @arabazahamad,

Here's the response from the team: 

"This is because Acrobat does the color conversion (to grayscale) instead of having it done on the device.

So, to the printer driver, it is no different than if the user manually converted the file and then sent it to the printer."

Hope this clarifies your question.

Regards,
Souvik.

[arabazahamad]

Hi Souvik and Adobe Team,

Thanks for the reply!

I understand that Acrobat performs grayscale conversion itself when the “Print in grayscale (black and white)” checkbox is selected. So the PDF sent to the printer may already look grayscale.

However, from my printer driver’s point of view, it still receives the job as a color print, and the job options (like ColorModel=Gray) are not set, unlike other apps such as Chrome or Word.

My follow-up question is:

Even though Acrobat does the conversion, is there any way for my macOS printer backend or driver to detect that the user selected the "Print in grayscale" checkbox?
For example:

• A hidden job option or metadata?

• A specific Adobe tag?

• A change in the job file or headers?

Currently, I always receive color jobs, and I have no way of knowing if the user wanted grayscale.

Any workaround, documentation, or pointer would really help.

Thanks again for your support!
Arabaz Ahamad

[arabazahamad]

Hi @Souvik,

Thank you again for your earlier response and clarification.

Based on our conversation, I understand that when the user selects "Print in grayscale (black and white)" in Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat itself converts the PDF content to grayscale before sending it to the printer. As a result, the CUPS backend receives a grayscale-looking PDF, but no job option (like ColorModel=Gray) is passed, making it hard for the printer driver to know the user's intent.

Here’s the issue I’m facing now:

When users print from other applications (like Chrome, Safari, MS Word, or Preview), the PDF content is always in color regardless of the selected print setting. In those cases, I rely on ColorModel or similar job options to decide whether to convert the PDF to grayscale.

However, when printing from Adobe Acrobat, I receive a grayscale PDF directly when the user selects grayscale via Acrobat's checkbox — but since no job option is set, this breaks my logic.

Problem:
To handle this correctly, I would like to detect which application sent the print job.

If I can determine that the job was sent from Adobe Acrobat, I can adjust my logic as follows:

• Use PDF content analysis for Acrobat jobs.

• Use job options like ColorModel for all other applications.

My Question:
Is there a way in CUPS (or job metadata) to detect if a print job originated from Adobe Acrobat?

For example:

• Any field like job-originating-host-name or job-originating-application-name?

• Any Adobe-specific metadata embedded in the job?

This would help me apply the correct logic based on the source of the job.

Thanks again for your support, and I look forward to your guidance.

Best regards,
Arabaz Ahamad

[S. S]

Hi @arabaz_9459,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the delayed response.

Have you tried checking the print logs to see if it helps?

You can enable the print logs and analyze them as per your requirements.

Steps can be found here: https://adobe.ly/3Ih632a

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Souvik.