Below we show how to convert PDF files to black and white.

In case you’re not sure what grayscale means, it’s something that used to be in full colours and is now represented by a range of grey shades from white to black, as used in a monochrome display.

Few reasons to convert your colour PDF to grayscale are:

1. Save on coloured printer ink. If you're printing a grayscale PDF only black ink will be used.
2. Compress the PDF to a smaller size. Works best when the PDF contains images. Grayscale images are smaller in size than coloured ones.

Upload your files

Files are safely uploaded over an encrypted connection. Files stay secure. After processing, they are permanently deleted.

Rather not upload your files and work with them offline?
Try Sejda Desktop. Same features as the online service, and the files never leave your computer.

Click 'Upload' and select files from your local computer.

Dragging and dropping files to the page also works.

Dropbox or Google Drive files

You can pick PDF files from Dropbox or Google Drive too.

Expand the 'Upload' dropdown and select your files.

Step 2: Choose options

Use no colour ink when printing

A common reason for converting a PDF document to grayscale is to consume no coloured ink when printing it. If your PDF is grayscale, only black ink is used when you print it.

Offset printing

One of the tool features is that it can convert text to grayscale or simply black. This is handy when preparing a PDF document for offset printing.

Another feature allows skipping images altogether, leaving them in full colour, while converting to grayscale (or black) the text contents.