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 and 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.

Ellen Finkelstein can train you or the presenters in your organization to create high-impact, engaging, professional presentations for training, sales, business, or education. For more information, please click here.