PowerPoint Tips & Tutorials

Print in Black & White or Grayscale

A visitor to my Web site asked, "I'm struggling over what I thought was something I would easily find. In PPT, how do I keep color backgrounds on slides with bar graphs/legends for the slide presentation but print these slides in black/white or grayscale handouts?"

Printing in black & white, or grayscale, may be necessary if the slides will be reproduced later on a black & white laser printer or in a one-color print brochure. Slides that seem to have great contrast in color often blend into oblivion in black and white.

To print slides or handouts in black & white or grayscale, choose File > Print. In the Print What section, choose what you want to print: slides, handouts, or notes pages.

In the same section, from the Color drop-down list, choose Grayscale or Pure Black and White. Grayscale usually gives a nicer result.

Note that printing in grayscale or black & white often removes the background for the sake of contrast. Here are the rules that PowerPoint uses:

• If you use a template that includes a bitmap image or insert a bitmap image using Format > Background, the background is removed.

• If you use a template that does not include any bitmap images, the background is included.

• If you insert a picture on the slide master and then send it to the bottom layer (Draw > Order > Send to Back), the background is included.

To check what the printout will look like, before you print, click the Preview button in the Print dialog box.

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