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Grayscale PDF

Convert every colour in a PDF to shades of grey.

Runs on your device

Other sites: 0Check it yourself
  1. 1Add files
  2. 2Set up
  3. 3Download

Tip: You can also drop files anywhere on this page, or paste them.

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How to use Grayscale PDF

  1. 01Add one or more PDFs to convert.
  2. 02Press Convert to grayscale. There is nothing to set.
  3. 03Download the grayscale PDF and print or share it.

About Grayscale PDF

Grayscale PDF converts a colour document into shades of grey, keeping its text as text. Every colour becomes the grey of the same lightness: text and lines, filled shapes, photos and other images, gradients, highlights and the colours of comments and form fields. Use it to print on a black-and-white printer without surprises, to stop a colour printer using colour ink and charging colour prices, to meet submission rules that ask for greyscale, or to see how a design reads without colour. Images are stored with one channel instead of three, which often makes the file smaller too.

Why your files stay private

The conversion runs in your browser, colour by colour and image by image. The PDF isn’t uploaded to Nopload or anyone else, and the result is saved straight to your device.

Grayscale PDF: common questions

Is the text still selectable?
Yes. Only the colours change: text stays text, so it can still be selected, searched and read aloud, and vector drawings stay sharp at any zoom.
How are colours turned into grey?
Each colour becomes the grey of its brightness as the eye sees it, so dark blue becomes dark grey and yellow a light grey. Two colours of the same brightness end up the same grey, so charts that rely on colour alone may need labels.
Will the file be smaller?
Often, when it has many photos, because a grey image needs a third of the data. A file of mostly text stays about the same size. For a smaller file still, run Compress PDF afterwards.
Is anything left in colour?
Rarely: a few kinds of content can’t be read safely, such as JPEG 2000 images and gradients defined by small programs. They are left as they are, and the result tells you how many.
Why not just print in black and white?
Printer drivers differ: some still count pages as colour, some turn light colours into nothing. A grayscale PDF prints the same on every printer, and you can check it on screen first.

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