How to Print in Black and White on Mac: Preview, Word, Chrome and Missing-Option Fixes

Here is how to print in black and white on Mac: press Command-P, then tick Black & White or set the color mode to Grayscale in the print dialog, and click Print. If your printer driver shows no such option, the fastest fix is to turn the PDF into a grayscale copy with our free converter and print that file instead. It then prints grey on any printer, from any app.

We print client reports, contact sheets and PDF proofs on Macs all the time, and the missing color option is the problem we hit most. This guide covers every place the setting hides on a MacBook, iMac or Mac mini, how to make it the default, and what to do when the Mac does the opposite and refuses to print in color.

How to print in black and white on Mac with the print dialog

Preview, Pages, Safari, Word, Excel and most other Mac apps hand the job to the same macOS print window. So the steps below work almost everywhere.

1. Open the document and press Command-P, or choose File > Print.
2. Check that the right printer is selected at the top.
3. On macOS Ventura and later, look for a Black & White checkbox near the copies and pages fields. Many AirPrint printers show it right there.
4. If you do not see it, expand Printer Options (or on older versions click Show Details, then open the menu below the preview).
5. Choose the section named Printer Features, Quality & Media, Print Settings or your printer’s model name, and set the color mode to Grayscale, Mono or Black and White.
6. Glance at the preview, then click Print.

The wording changes from brand to brand because each printer driver adds its own panel. Apple’s dialog only shows options the driver reports, which is why two Macs in the same office can look different.

Where does each printer brand hide the setting?

These are the usual spots we find it in. Exact names vary by model and driver version, so treat this as a map, not a promise.

How do you print a PDF in black and white on a Mac?

PDFs give people the most trouble, because Preview’s print dialog sometimes shows no color section at all. You have three routes.

Method 1: convert the PDF to grayscale first (works with any printer)

This is the route we use when the driver hides the option, or when the same file must print grey on several printers. Our color PDF to black and white converter runs in Safari, Chrome or Firefox on your Mac.

1. Open the tool and drop in the PDF. A password-protected file asks for its password, which stays on your Mac.
2. Set Output to Grayscale (keeps shades and photos) or Pure black and white (crisp text, smallest file).
3. For pure black and white, adjust the cut-off between 20 and 240. The default is 170; a higher number keeps more light grey as black, which rescues faint text.
4. Pick Quality: Draft 100 dpi, Standard 150 dpi, High 200 dpi or Print 300 dpi. For paper, choose 200 or 300.
5. Click Convert to black and white, download the file and print it with Command-P.

Because the new file contains no color data at all, the printer cannot slip color in, whatever the dialog says. The trade-off: pages are rebuilt as images, so text in the copy is not selectable. Keep your original for searching.

Method 2: Preview’s Quartz Filter

In Preview, choose File > Export, keep the format as PDF, set Quartz Filter to Gray Tone or Black & White, save, then print the new file. It is free and built in, but the Black & White filter can wash out light text. Apple’s Preview User Guide covers exporting. Our sibling guide on converting color PDFs to black and white on every platform compares this with Acrobat Pro and Ghostscript.

Method 3: Adobe Acrobat Reader

Acrobat Reader for Mac has its own print window. Tick Print in grayscale (black and white) and print. This is reliable because Reader converts the pages before they reach the driver.

How do you print black and white from Word, Pages or Chrome on a Mac?

• Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Mac: they use the macOS dialog, so follow the steps above. If the option is missing, choose File > Save As, pick PDF, and convert that PDF.
• Pages, Numbers and Keynote: same macOS dialog. Keynote and Pages can also export a PDF (File > Export To > PDF) if you need a grey copy to send.
• Google Chrome: Chrome shows its own print preview. Set Color to Black and white when the printer supports it; on some setups it sits under More settings (see Google’s Print from Chrome help). Or click “Print using system dialog” for the macOS window.
• Photos: prints through the macOS dialog too; for several photos at once, merge the JPGs into one PDF, convert it to grey and print one job.

How do you make black and white the default on a Mac?

macOS has no single “always grayscale” switch, but a preset does the same job.

1. Press Command-P and set Black & White or Grayscale as above.
2. Open the Presets menu and choose Save Current Settings as Preset.
3. Name it, for example “Mono draft”, choose All Printers or Only This Printer, and click OK.
4. Print one job with it. macOS remembers the last preset you used.
5. If it keeps jumping back to Default Settings, open Presets > Edit Preset List (or Show Presets) and turn off the option that resets the menu after printing.

Apple explains presets in Save frequently used print settings on Mac. Some drivers also let you set a default color mode in System Settings > Printers & Scanners > Options & Supplies.

Which method should you use?

There is more than one answer to how to print in black and white on Mac. Pick the method by what you need at the end: a single printout, a routine setting or a grey file.

Why convert the file instead of trusting the printer?

A print setting only changes one job on one printer. A converted file is grey everywhere: at the library, on a colleague’s laser, or at a print shop that charges for color pages.

It also matters for ink. Some inkjet drivers mix grey from color inks unless you choose a black-ink-only or Mono mode, so a “grayscale” print can still drain your color cartridges. If ink is your concern, look for that black-only setting, or pick Pure black and white in the converter so pages contain only black.

Privacy is the other reason. The PDFs people print are often bank statements, IDs, contracts and medical letters. Our converter never uploads the file: your Mac does the work in the browser tab, nothing is stored on our servers, and the tool only accepts real PDFs, checked by their file signature.

A worked example: a 14-page color deck on a Mac with no grey option

Here is a job we handle often. A client sends a 14-page PDF report full of colored charts. We need two paper copies for a review meeting, on an office inkjet whose Mac driver shows no color setting in Preview.

1. We open the free grayscale PDF converter in Safari and drop in the report.
2. We pick Grayscale, because the charts need their shades to stay readable, and Print 300 dpi for sharp text.
3. One page uses pale yellow labels, so we check the thumbnail. Grey keeps them visible; Pure black and white at the default cut-off would have dropped them.
4. We download the grey copy, press Command-P and print two copies. No color ink is touched by the file itself.
5. The grey PDF is also the one we email, after we shrink the PDF to 300KB for the client’s mail limit.

Troubleshooting: common Mac printing problems

There is no Black & White option in the print dialog

Expand Printer Options and check every section in the menu. Still nothing? Remove the printer in System Settings > Printers & Scanners and add it again, choosing AirPrint or the newest driver from the maker. Or skip the driver and print a grayscale copy of the PDF.

Why is my Mac only printing in black and white?

• A grey preset is still selected. Switch Presets back to Default Settings.
• The file itself is grey, for example after a Quartz Filter export. Print the original.
• The Color Matching section uses a grey profile. Set it back to Automatic or the printer’s profile.
• The printer is low on color ink or the driver default is locked to mono. Check the printer’s own screen or utility.

The preview looks grey but the paper comes out in color

The driver ignored the request. Use the driver’s own color mode rather than the Apple checkbox, or print a converted file.

Faint text disappears

Use Grayscale, or raise the pure black and white cut-off above 170 so light grey turns black.

Printing still fails after all of this

In Printers & Scanners, Control-click the printer list and choose Reset printing system. It removes every printer, so add them back afterwards.

What else can you print or prepare in black and white?

• A LibreOffice or OpenOffice document: turn the ODT into a PDF, then convert it to grey.
• Scanned receipts or screenshots: combine the images into one PDF and print once.
• All our converters are listed on the free tools page.

Frequently asked questions

How to print in black and white on Mac if there is no option?

Convert the file to grayscale first, then print it. LeadCanal’s free converter or Preview’s Gray Tone Quartz Filter both create a grey PDF that prints grey on any printer.

How do I print in black and white on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?

The steps are the same on every Mac: Command-P, tick Black & White or set Color Mode to Grayscale, then Print. The model of Mac does not change the dialog; your printer driver does.

How do I print a PDF in black and white from Preview?

Press Command-P and look for Black & White or a color mode under Printer Options. If Preview shows none, export with the Gray Tone Quartz Filter or use a grayscale converter, then print the new file.

Can I set my Mac to always print in black and white?

Yes, through a saved preset. Choose your grey settings, use Presets > Save Current Settings as Preset, and print once with it so macOS keeps it selected.

Does printing in grayscale save color ink?

Usually, but not always. Some inkjets build grey from color inks, so choose a black-ink-only or Mono mode if your driver offers one.

Why is my print preview in black and white on Mac?

A grey preset, Color Matching profile or Quartz Filter is active, or the file is already grey. Reset Presets to Default Settings and check the original file.

Is it safe to convert a private PDF online?

With LeadCanal’s converter, yes: the PDF is processed in your browser and never uploaded. Be careful with tools that send files to a server you know nothing about.

Conclusion: key takeaways

Knowing how to print in black and white on Mac comes down to one rule: use the dialog when the driver cooperates, and convert the file when it does not.

• Press Command-P and tick Black & White, or set Color Mode to Grayscale.
• Look under Printer Options or Quality & Media when the checkbox is missing.
• No option at all? Convert the PDF to grayscale with LeadCanal’s free tool, then print.
• Save a preset so black and white becomes your routine setting.
• If the Mac only prints grey, reset Presets and Color Matching to defaults.

Ready to print your file in grey? Open the free color PDF to black and white converter; it takes a few seconds and your file never leaves your Mac.

Editorial policy

We write these guides from our own day-to-day work handling client files on Macs and PCs. We only describe settings and menus we have used or confirmed in official documentation, and we flag where labels differ between printer brands and macOS versions. We update the guide when Apple or the major printer makers change their print dialogs.

Content transparency

This guide was researched with keyword and search data and checked against Apple, Google and printer-maker documentation. LeadCanal built and offers the free converter tools mentioned here. They run in your browser, carry no watermark and need no account. We do not receive payment from any printer or software brand named in this article.

About the author

This guide was written by the LeadCanal team. We build verified B2B contact lists, enrich CRM data and run cold email infrastructure every day, which means we handle a steady stream of CSV, VCF and PDF files for clients. We built our free file converters to solve the problems we kept running into ourselves.