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Convert PDF to Grayscale

Turn every color in a PDF into shades of gray, or into pure black and white, to save ink.

About PDF to Grayscale

PDF to Grayscale helps when you print on a black-and-white laser printer, pay per color page at a print shop, or need a mono copy for a form that asks for one. Colored text, lines, fills and photos are all converted. Text stays real text, so it remains sharp and searchable; nothing is turned into a picture.

Pick Grayscale to keep the tones, which suits photos and charts, or Pure black & white for the crispest print of text documents, where every light shade becomes white and every dark one black. The file is saved with _gray or _bw added to its name, and the original stays in color.

How to use PDF to Grayscale

  1. 1
    Upload the color PDF

    Choose the file to convert, or drop it on the page.

  2. 2
    Pick the mode

    Choose Grayscale or Pure black & white under Convert to.

  3. 3
    Convert and download

    Click PDF to Grayscale and save the mono copy.

Why use Cubfile for this

  • Text stays text

    Letters are recolored, not rasterized, so they print crisply and can still be searched.

  • Pictures converted too

    Photos, logos and scanned pages inside the PDF lose their color along with everything else.

  • Two modes

    Grayscale keeps shading; pure black and white gives the highest contrast for text.

  • Original untouched

    You get a separate copy, so the color version is still there when you need it.

FAQ

PDF to Grayscale: questions and answers

How do I convert a PDF to grayscale for printing?
Upload it, keep Grayscale selected and click PDF to Grayscale. Print the downloaded copy as usual.
Should I choose Grayscale or Pure black & white?
Grayscale for anything with photos or colored charts, since the shades survive. Pure black & white for text-heavy pages, where it gives the darkest, cleanest letters but can turn pale colors white. Before you print, look through the result in PDF Reader to check nothing pale has disappeared.
Will converting a PDF to grayscale make it smaller?
Sometimes a little, when it contains color photos, but that isn't the goal. Use Compress PDF when size matters.
Is converting to grayscale free?
Yes, for 2 tasks a day with a free account or 2 in total as a visitor, with files up to 50 MB. VIP converts files up to 1 GB with no daily limit.
What happens to my file afterwards?
The color original and the gray copy are removed from our server automatically after one hour. Uploads are encrypted, and we never share or sell documents.
Share PDF to Grayscale with a friendIt runs in any browser, and they can try it without signing up.

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