How to Print in Black and White Only

Any color printer can print in grayscale. The setting lives in the print dialog, and the label varies by printer maker. Here is where to find it on each system and how to make it the default.

Open the print dialog

Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) in the app, or tap the share or menu button on a phone and choose Print.

Turn on grayscale on Windows

In the standard Windows 11 print dialog (Edge, Photos, Word), click More settings and set Color to Black and white. In apps that use the older dialog, click Printer properties or Preferences and look for Color / Grayscale, Print in Grayscale, or Color Mode; HP, Canon, Epson, and Brother each name it differently. Choose grayscale or black and white, click OK, then Print.

Turn on grayscale on a Mac

Recent macOS versions show a Black & White toggle near the top of the print dialog for printers that support it. If it is not there, scroll down to the printer's own section, which may be a dropdown or heading named Quality & Media, Color/Quality, Color Options, or Printer Features, and set Grayscale, Black & White, or Color Mode there. Then click Print.

Turn on grayscale on iPhone or Android

iPhone: tap the share icon, tap Print, tap Options if the settings are collapsed, and turn on Black & White. Android: choose Print, tap the down arrow to expand the options, and set Color to Black & white.

Make black and white the default

Windows: open Settings, Bluetooth & devices, Printers & scanners, click the printer, click Printing preferences, set grayscale, and click OK. Every app then starts in grayscale, and you can switch back to color for a single job. Mac: set grayscale in the print dialog, open the Presets menu, choose Save Current Settings as Preset, and name it; macOS reuses the last preset you picked.

If you print from a PDF viewer. Adobe Acrobat Reader has its own Print in grayscale (black and white) checkbox in its print dialog, which works regardless of the driver setting.

If the printer still uses color ink. Many inkjets mix a little color ink into gray tones even in grayscale mode. Look in Printer properties for Black ink only or Use black cartridge only; if the driver has no such option, the printer decides for itself.