How To Print In Black & White On Mac.
Printing something in black and white on a Mac seems easy, but if you’ve ever tried it yourself, you know it’s not as easy as it sounds. Before the printer can print documents without colors, some settings need to be changed.
By default, most printers are set to use color cartridges to print documents. This means that even if the entire document is in black and white, it will still use your color cartridge as indicated on your Mac.
However, you can change this default behavior and your printers will use their black and white cartridges to print your colorless documents. This option can be found in the default print dialog on your Mac.
Use the default for black and white printing on Mac
In the default dialog box that you see when you print a document, you have the option to print documents in black and white. For most printers, however, this option is hidden and you need to dig a little deeper to find and use it on your computer.
This method should work fine if there are only a few documents that you want to print without any colors. If you need to print dozens of files, we recommend using the preset method below for more convenience.
- Open the document you want to print in black and white in any of your favorite applications. Then click the File menu and select Print. Or press the keyboard shortcut Command + P.
- In the print dialog that opens, you will find several options that you can customize for your print job. In some cases, you will find a checkbox for black and white printing on the home screen. Just check the box and click “Print” to print your document.
- If you haven’t found the option you want, it’s inside a submenu. To access this option, click the main drop-down menu where you see various print options and select the Quality & Media option.
- A new panel will open right below the dropdown menu. Here you will find a checkbox that says Print in Grayscale. Check this box to enable black and white printing.
- Click the Print button below and your document will be printed in black and white.
Some applications have the ability to print in black and white directly from the main print dialog. Adobe Acrobat Reader, for example, is one of them, and in these cases you can simply check the Print in Grayscale option and it should do the job for you.
The options you’re looking for should say something like “black and whiteâ€, “grayscale†and other similar words – you get the idea.
Create and use a black and white print preset on Mac
A preset is a collection of presets that automatically applies any saved settings to the document you print. In fact, you can create a preset that will print your documents in black and white on your Mac.
Creating a preset does not require any special skills. All you have to do is select a configuration, save it and call up a preset.
- Start a document and press Command + P to open the default print dialog.
- When the dialog box opens, click the main drop-down menu and select Quality & Media. This will allow you to select the type of print.
- Turn on Print in Grayscale. It prints your documents in black and white.
- At the top of the dialog box, you will find a drop-down menu labeled “Presets”. Click the menu and select the Save Current Settings As Preset option.
- You will be prompted for a name for your preset and the availability of this new preset.
You can enter any value in the name field, but make sure that this is something you can find out at a later time. In the availability section, you can make the preset available for all printers on your Mac, or only for the currently selected printer.
Then click OK to save the preset.
- The next time you want to print something in black and white, just open the print dialog, select your preset from the Presets menu, and click the Print button. The print settings will be applied to your job automatically.
Since the preset is created in the default print dialog, it will be available for use in all applications where you can open the default print dialog.
Fix black and white printing issues on Mac
Sometimes it happens that your printer refuses to print your documents in black and white. In this case, you can do a few things like the ones below to get rid of the problem.
Remove the printer from your system
One way to fix the faulty black and white printing function is to remove the printer and then add it back to the system.
- Click the Apple logo at the top and choose System Preferences.
- Click Printers & Scanners on the next screen.
- Select your printer from the list in the left sidebar, and then click the – (minus) sign at the bottom.
- A prompt appears asking if you want to delete the printer. Click Remove Printer and your printer will be removed.
- Follow the instructions for your printer to add it back to your machine.
Reset the entire printing system on Mac
If removing and adding a printer did not solve the problem, you might want to reset the entire printing system.
- Go to System Preferences and select Printers & Scanners.
- Right-click any of your printers and select Reset Printing System.
- Select “Reset” at the prompt that appears on the screen.
Then you will need to re-add printers to Mac.
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