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How to Make a PDF Black and White for Free: Convert to Grayscale

· 6 min read

Quick summary: To make a PDF black and white on Mac, open it in Preview → File → Print → PDF dropdown → “Save as PDF” with a Quartz Filter set to “Gray Tone.” On any platform, the free Ghostscript command gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sColorConversionStrategy=Gray -dProcessColorModel=/DeviceGray converts a color PDF to grayscale. Both methods are free and produce a proper grayscale PDF file.

Converting a color PDF to black and white (grayscale) reduces file size, saves money when printing on a black-and-white printer, and produces cleaner output when color is not needed. You can also upload any PDF to our free AI PDF reader to read and summarize it before printing.

Why make a PDF black and white?

  • Print cost: Black-and-white printing is cheaper than color printing.
  • File size: Grayscale PDFs are often smaller than color versions.
  • Clarity: Some color documents are harder to read when photocopied or faxed — grayscale is clearer.
  • Accessibility: Some accessibility requirements specify black-and-white output.

How to make a PDF black and white on Mac (Preview)

Preview has a built-in Quartz filter for grayscale conversion:

  1. Open the PDF in Preview.
  2. Go to File → Print (Cmd+P).
  3. In the Print dialog, click the PDF dropdown button at the bottom left.
  4. Click “Save as PDF…” — but do not save yet.
  5. In the Save dialog, look for the Quartz Filter dropdown.
  6. Select “Gray Tone” from the list.
  7. Name the file and click Save.

The saved PDF is now grayscale.

If “Gray Tone” is not in the list:

  1. Open ColorSync Utility (search in Spotlight).
  2. Click Filters in the toolbar.
  3. Click the ”+” button to add a new filter.
  4. Double-click “New Filter” to rename it (e.g., “Grayscale”).
  5. Click “Add Effect” → “Color Monochrome”.
  6. Set the color to white and the intensity to 1.0.
  7. The filter now appears in Preview’s Print → PDF → Quartz Filter list.

Alternative — ColorSync Utility direct method:

  1. Open ColorSync Utility.
  2. Click Filter in the sidebar (if it shows your PDF filter option).
  3. Drag your PDF onto the filter to apply it directly.

How to make a PDF black and white with Ghostscript (Mac/Windows/Linux)

Ghostscript is a free, open-source command-line tool that handles this reliably on any platform:

Install Ghostscript

Mac (Homebrew):

brew install ghostscript

Windows: Download the free installer from the Ghostscript website (search “Ghostscript download”).

Linux:

sudo apt-get install ghostscript

Convert to grayscale

gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
   -sColorConversionStrategy=Gray \
   -dProcessColorModel=/DeviceGray \
   -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 \
   -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH \
   -sOutputFile=output_bw.pdf \
   input.pdf

Replace input.pdf with your file name and output_bw.pdf with the desired output name. Ghostscript converts all color elements (text, images, graphics) to grayscale.

One-line version:

gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sColorConversionStrategy=Gray -dProcessColorModel=/DeviceGray -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sOutputFile=bw.pdf color.pdf

How to make a PDF black and white on Windows

Method 1: Microsoft Print to PDF with grayscale printer settings

  1. Open the PDF in Microsoft Edge or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  2. Press Ctrl+P to print.
  3. Select “Microsoft Print to PDF” as the printer.
  4. Click “More settings” (or “Printer Properties”).
  5. Look for a Color or Output tab → select “Grayscale” or “Black & White”.
  6. Click Print — it saves a grayscale PDF to your chosen location.

Note: The grayscale option depends on the printer driver. Microsoft Print to PDF may not always show this option. If it does not appear, use Ghostscript (above).

Method 2: Word or LibreOffice (for PDFs with editable content)

If you can open the PDF as a document:

  1. Open the PDF in Word (File → Open) or LibreOffice Draw.
  2. Change the document colors to grayscale (in Word: Format → Font → Color: Automatic; for images, format each image to grayscale).
  3. Export/Save As PDF.

This method is practical only for simple PDFs with limited color elements.

How to make a PDF black and white online (free)

Free browser-based tools convert color PDFs to grayscale without any software install. Search for “convert PDF to grayscale free online”:

  1. Upload your PDF.
  2. Select the grayscale or black-and-white option.
  3. Download the converted PDF.

Privacy note: Online tools upload your file to a remote server. For confidential documents, use the local Preview or Ghostscript methods instead.

How to print a PDF in black and white without converting it

If you only need to print in black and white without creating a new file:

Mac:

  1. Open the PDF in Preview → File → Print.
  2. In the Print dialog, click Show Details.
  3. Find the Color & Quality section → select “Black & White” or “Grayscale”.

Windows:

  1. Open the PDF and press Ctrl+P.
  2. Click “Printer Properties” → Color tab → select “Black & White” or “Grayscale”.

This prints in black and white without permanently converting the file. See how to print a PDF for free for full print settings guidance.

Does converting to grayscale reduce PDF file size?

Often yes, but the savings vary:

  • PDFs with many color photographs can shrink significantly (20–50%).
  • PDFs with mostly text and few color elements may see little size change.
  • For maximum compression, use Ghostscript with the -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen or /ebook option in addition to the grayscale settings.

See how to make a PDF smaller for free for more size reduction techniques.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Will converting to black and white change the PDF layout?

No — the Quartz filter method (Preview) and Ghostscript preserve the original layout. Colors are converted to grayscale shades, but text positions, images, and page structure remain unchanged.

Why does my PDF still show color after using the Gray Tone filter in Preview?

Check that you used File → Print → PDF → Save as PDF with Quartz Filter, not just File → Export as PDF (which does not apply filters). Also verify the Quartz Filter dropdown actually shows “Gray Tone” selected, not “None.”

Can I make only specific pages black and white?

Not directly in Preview. With Ghostscript, you can process page ranges using the -dFirstPage and -dLastPage options, then merge the result with the original — see how to extract pages from a PDF for free for splitting and how to make a PDF for free for merging pages.

Does grayscale affect image quality in the PDF?

Converting color images to grayscale may reduce their visual quality slightly, especially photographs with subtle color differences that become similar gray values. For line art, diagrams, and text-heavy PDFs, there is no practical quality loss.

Is there a free online tool to convert PDF to black and white?

Yes — several free web tools do this. Search “PDF to grayscale free online” and use a well-reviewed result. For privacy-sensitive documents, use Preview or Ghostscript locally.

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