With this setting turned on, your default printer in Windows will not be. Navigate to Windows Start menu; Click 'Settings'; Click 'Devices' in the Settings dialog.
This section explains how to open the [Printing Preferences] dialog box under Windows Vista/7 or Windows Server 2008/2008 R2.
- You cannot change the printer default settings for each user. Settings made in the printer properties dialog box are applied to all users.
- When the printer driver is distributed from the print server, the setting values specified by the server are displayed as the default for [Printing Defaults..].
- On the [Start] menu, click [Control Panel].The [Control Panel] window appears.
- Click [Printer] in 'Hardware and Sound'.
- If using Windows 7, click [View devices and printers] in 'Hardware and Sound'.
- If using Windows Server 2008 R2, click [View devices and printers] in 'Hardware'.
- Right-click the icon of the printer you want to use, and then click [Printing Preferences..].If using Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, right-click the icon of the printer you want to use, and then click [Printing preferences].The [Printing Preferences] dialog box appears.
- Make the necessary settings, and then click [OK].The setting is temporarily registered as [Unregistered] in the [One Click Preset List:] area.
- Depending on the applications, the settings you make here may not be used as the default settings.
- The [Unregistered] setting is invalid when the other One Click Presets icon is selected. If you wish to confirm the [Unregistered] setting, click [Register Current Settings..]. For details about confirming the setting, see 'Making Printer Settings - One Click Presets'. Make preview default pdf.
- For details, see the printer driver Help.
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Many printers that you would buy today for your home or office can print in color or black and white. At times, you'll want to set a color printer to print in black and white, either to generate a document that's easier to photocopy or simply to save money on color ink. You can use Microsoft Windows or Apple macOS to configure your printer to use black ink only on every print job, or choose whether to print in color or black and white on an individual print job.
Color and Grayscale Printing
When you usually print in color using a color printer, your printer will use a color ink cartridge that generally has cyan, magenta and yellow ink to mix whatever colors you want to print. A black ink cartridge provides black and gray where it's needed on the page.
If you print in black and white, your printer will often use what's called grayscale printing to approximate the light and dark aspects of images using various shades of gray. Only black ink is needed to print in greyscale, so this won't require or deplete any of your color ink. You can often still make out aspects of designs and images using grayscale.
Remember that black and white printing doesn't simply mean one shade of black and blank areas of page. Grayscale printing let black and white approximate color without needing to use color ink.
Change Printer Default Settings
If you're using Microsoft Windows, it's easy to change your printer's configuration through the built-in Settings menu. Click the Start Menu, then click 'Settings' and choose Devices, then 'Printers & Scanners.' Look for your printer on the list of printers, click its icon and click 'Manage.'
Within the management menu, click 'Printing Preferences.' Scroll through the menu to see various configuration options and find the option to select whether you wish to print in color or black and white. Select 'black and white' and set any other desired settings, such as paper size.
You can also generally access the 'Printing Preferences' menu when printing from an individual application. Click 'Preferences' from the printing menu and change any settings needed before printing. If you want to change a setting for one print job, you can do so in the 'Preferences' menu and then revert it when you're done printing.
Change Settings on a Mac
If you are using a Mac computer, you can still configure the printer to use color or black and white as you wish. You can do this through the printing dialog menu and save the settings as 'preset' to use later on.
Click 'File' and 'Print' in most programs to load the printing menu. Click 'Show Details' to see more information about the printing configuration. Click the dropdown menu to see various setting options and choose 'Color/Quality.' Look for an option to print in black and white in grayscale and select it. The name will vary slightly from printer model to printer model.
Once you've selected the correct color setting and made any other changes you wish, you can save your settings. To do so, click the 'Presets' dropdown menu and click 'Save Current Settings as Preset.' Give your new preset settings option a name so you can find it later on and choose whether you want it to apply to any printer connected to your computer or just the current one. Click 'OK.'
Next time you print, use the 'Presets' drop-down to find the present of your choice and use those settings again. You may wish to create one preset option with your desired choices for color printing and one for black and white printing.
References (4)
About the Author
Steven Melendez is an independent journalist with a background in technology and business. He has written for a variety of business publications including Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, Innovation Leader and Business BVI. He was awarded the Knight Foundation scholarship to Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Cite this Article Choose Citation Style
Melendez, Steven. 'How to Configure a Color Printer to Default to Black & White.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/configure-color-printer-default-black-white-47987.html. 16 January 2019.
Melendez, Steven. (2019, January 16). How to Configure a Color Printer to Default to Black & White. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/configure-color-printer-default-black-white-47987.html
Melendez, Steven. 'How to Configure a Color Printer to Default to Black & White' last modified January 16, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/configure-color-printer-default-black-white-47987.html
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