How to Print in Black and White From Google Chrome

To print in black and white from Google Chrome, press Ctrl + P (Command + P on a Mac), choose your printer next to Destination, and set Color to Black and white. Then click Print. If Chrome doesn’t show a black and white choice for your printer, click Print using system dialog and turn on grayscale in the printer’s own settings.

This guide covers Chrome on Windows and Mac computers. The print shortcut and steps come from Google’s Print from Chrome guide.

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How to Print in Black and White From Chrome

Open the page, image, or file you want to print in Chrome.
Press Ctrl + P on Windows or Linux, or Command + P on a Mac. You can also click File > Print.
Next to Destination, choose your printer. Click See more if it isn’t listed.
Next to Color, choose Black and white.
Click Print.

Result: Chrome sends the job to your printer in black and white. The Color setting is a choice between Color and Black and white.

Steps to print in black and white from Google Chrome — Illustration: the steps to print in black and white from Chrome.

Use Your Printer’s Grayscale Setting

Some printers don’t offer black and white in Chrome’s own print window, and a few may ignore it. In that case, use the printer’s settings instead.

Press Ctrl + P or Command + P to open print preview.
Click Print using system dialog. This link opens your computer’s print manager.
Select your printer, then open its Preferences or Properties.
Look for a grayscale or color mode setting. Examples include Print in grayscale on HP printers and Color Mode on Sharp printers.
Choose grayscale or black and white, then print.

Result: the printer itself prints in grayscale. These printer settings apply to the current print job, so check them again next time.

Fixes when Chrome has no black and white print option — Illustration: fixes when Chrome has no black and white option.

Other Print Settings That Save Ink and Paper

Chrome’s print window also has these settings:

Pages: choose Custom and type only the page numbers you need.
Two-sided: check this box if your printer can print on both sides of the paper.
More settings: change the paper size, headers and footers, and how many pages print on each sheet.

Can You Make Black and White the Default?

Google offers a PrintingColorDefault policy that sets Chrome’s default color mode to color or monochrome. It works only on ChromeOS, and it’s meant for administrators who manage Chromebooks. On a Windows PC or Mac, check whether your printer’s own preferences offer a default grayscale setting.

Troubleshooting

There’s no Color option

The setting depends on the printer you pick. Black and white may not work with every printer. Try the system dialog steps above, or make sure you selected your printer and not a PDF destination.

A saved PDF is still in color

The Microsoft Print to PDF destination kept pages in color in its testing, while the older Microsoft XPS Document Writer produced black and white output.

It prints in black and white when you want color

Avery’s help center suggests setting Color back to Color in Chrome, checking your printer’s image options for a black and white setting, and updating your printer driver from the manufacturer’s website.

FAQs

Can I print a Google Doc in black and white?

Yes. Docs uses the same print window when you print from Chrome. See how to print a Google Doc from Chrome for the full steps.

Does Save as PDF support black and white?

Chrome’s Save as PDF destination is meant for saving the page, not printing it. If you need a grayscale copy on paper, pick your printer as the destination instead.

Related Guides

To make black and white the default for every app, not just Chrome, see how to change your printer settings to black and white in Windows.

Matthew Burleigh

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.