Convert a PDF to grayscale
Turn every colour in a PDF grey, for printing or for forms that ask for black and white. Text stays text, and each page is checked for colour left over.
Drop your PDFs here
or browse your files
PDF files. As many as you like, no sign-up.
What changes
Text, lines, shapes and pictures turn grey. Text stays text you can select and search, and drawings stay sharp. Photos are saved again in grey at about their original quality.
Nothing is uploaded. Author, software and other hidden details are removed from every file.
- No ads
- No sign-up
- No watermark
- No daily limit
- Nothing uploaded
Several steps, or a whole batch? Chain this with other tools in a Workflow and run them in one go.
How each grey is worked out
Colours are converted with the formula the PDF standard itself gives: 30% of the red, 59% of the green and 11% of the blue. Across 334 pages of eight test PDFs, the result matched a grey rendering of the original to within one shade on average.
Photos and drawings
Photos are saved again in grey at about the quality they had. Other pictures, charts and drawings turn grey without losing any detail, and text stays selectable and searchable.
What can stay in colour
A few rare kinds of content can’t be converted here: JPEG 2000 pictures and colour blends stored point by point. The tool names anything it left, and after saving it draws each page and lists any that still show colour.
Hidden details come off
Every PDF you save here leaves without its document details: author, title, the app that made it, creation dates and embedded XMP data. Taking them out doesn’t change anything on the pages.
Password-protected PDFs
A PDF that needs a password to open, or that is locked against changes, can’t be edited here. If you know its password, take the protection off first with our Unlock PDF tool, then add it back with Protect PDF.
Your files stay with you
Your PDFs are opened and saved on your own device. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and you don’t need an account. Close the tab and they’re gone.
From our tests
- What turning a PDF grey changes, measured on eight files
Photo PDFs shrink most; text files barely move; and every page matched a grey rendering of the original.
- How much a PDF really shrinks, and when the level matters
Photos and scans shrink by up to 92%; text reports barely move, whatever level you pick.
More PDF tools
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- Unlock PDFRemove a password you know from a PDF.
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