Some applications ask for black-and-white documents, and printing colour pages in grayscale saves expensive colour ink. Add your PDF, pick a quality and download a grayscale copy. Choose pure black & white for crisp printed text.
Tips for the best result
- Use High quality if you'll print the result.
- Pure black & white makes scanned text crisper and the file smaller.
- Need a size limit too? Use Compress PDF with "Convert to black & white" ticked.
How to grayscale PDF
- Click Select PDF files and choose one or more PDFs.
- Pick a quality, and tick pure black & white if you want no grey shades.
- Click Convert to grayscale.
- Download your black-and-white PDF.
Why use PDFNest to grayscale PDF
- Save inkPrint colour documents without using any colour ink.
- Three quality levelsFrom print-ready to small files for uploads.
- Several files at onceConvert many PDFs in one go; they download together.
- Private by designConversion happens on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a colour PDF to black and white?
Select your PDF, choose a quality, click Convert to grayscale and download the result.
Will text still be selectable?
No — pages are converted to grayscale images. Keep your original if you need to copy text later.
What's the difference between grayscale and pure black & white?
Grayscale keeps shades of grey, which suits photos. Pure black & white has only black and white, which makes printed text crisper and files smaller.