# Can I turn off the color? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 15, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-off-the-color/93548 "2001-11-15T16:27:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-off-the-color/93548/1 "2001-11-15T16:27:25Z")
Many times in printing from the web I get a color picture,border or whatever. Can I turn that to B & W instead of wasteing color ink? I don’t necessarily want to deleat that part but I’ll admit lots of it is a waste.I don’t need a picture colored picture frame. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-off-the-color/93548/2 "2001-11-15T18:14:08Z")
You can’t change the web page’s content - if it contains colour info, then that’s that. However, you may be able to tell your printer to print using b/w or greyscale (in other words, lose all the colour information). You need to explore the software that you use to send the information to the printer, or the ‘print settings’ available to you. It varies with the make and type of printer. However, the vast majority of colour printers do provide an option to print in b/w or greyscale only. This will save on your colour cartridge. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-off-the-color/93548/3 "2001-11-16T00:16:46Z")
In the upper right hand corner, underneath all the icons, there is a link that says “Show Printable Version” or something like that. It gets rid of most of the color, although the SD icon is still at the top. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-turn-off-the-color/93548/4 "2001-11-16T03:44:17Z")
Also check your printer settings, some printers have provisions for “draft” printing which will only show you black and white. I had an old HP printer I used for that purpose and it saved me a ton of money on ink. It was fast and cheap, perfect for most of my printing needs. (Have a Canon printer that I use for color and etc.) Unfortuntely the HP just went to that big print buffer in the sky. I miss it. your humble TubaDiva Administrator