How to Set Printer to Print Color | Fix Grayscale Prints

Nothing kills a backyard project like a color print coming out gray. The fix for how to set printer to print color, on both Windows and macOS, comes down to one setting buried in the print menu. The exact option varies by operating system and printer driver, but the logic is the same everywhere. Here’s where to look on each system plus the mistakes that keep prints black-and-white.

The Windows Route: Check the Driver Settings

On Windows, color settings usually live in the printer driver, not the app you’re printing from. Open the Print dialog with Ctrl + P, then click the Printer Properties or Preferences button next to the printer’s name. This opens a separate window with tabs specific to your printer model.

Look for a Color tab or a section labeled Output Color or Color Options. Cornell University’s IT documentation on setting printers to color or black-and-white printing points to these same driver-level settings. Select Color — sometimes labeled Color Printing — and click OK, then print normally.

Some apps, like web browsers, have their own color toggle in the Print dialog. Windows also offers a setting called Print in background or Color printing under the printer’s printing preferences. If your printer still prints black-and-white, the driver is overriding the app — keep reading.

Color Settings on macOS

On a Mac, open the Print dialog with Command + P and look for the Color Options panel. Apple’s support documentation on Mac print settings confirms you choose Color from the Mode dropdown menu there. That menu typically offers Color, Grayscale, and sometimes Black & White.

Here’s what trips most people up: Apple states that the Print in Color option appears in the print menu only if the printer actually supports color printing. If you don’t see a color option at all, the printer driver knows the hardware can’t do color. A monochrome-only printer will never show this setting — no amount of menu digging changes that.

Before you give up, confirm the printer itself has color ink or toner installed. A printer with an empty color cartridge sometimes hides the color option or defaults to grayscale to keep printing.

Why Your Printer Keeps Printing Black and White

Three mistakes cause nearly every grayscale printout. Knowing them saves you the frustration of a second wasted page:

• Choosing grayscale in the wrong place. You changed the app’s print dialog, but the printer driver still has its own default set to black-and-white. The driver usually wins. Set both.
• Selecting the wrong option. Options labeled Grayscale, Black & White, or Monochrome are not the same as color. Pick the one that says Color.
• Assuming hardware that can’t print color. If your printer is a monochrome laser model, the color option simply won’t appear. Apple’s documentation explicitly notes this limitation.

One more macOS nuance: Apple recommends ColorSync only when Application-Managed Colors isn’t available in the print dialog. If you see Vendor Matching or In Printer instead, that’s printer-managed color — also a fine pick. These control how colors are matched, not whether color is used.

If you’ve confirmed the setting says color and prints still come out gray, try printing from a different app. A problematic driver or a stuck print queue can force grayscale even when the setting looks correct. Restarting the print spooler on Windows (services.msc > Print Spooler > Restart) usually clears a stuck queue.

Still struggling with this on an older printer? A driver update often reveals settings the old version hid. Visit your printer manufacturer’s support page and check for a current driver for your exact model number. Color printers built for home use often have clearer controls than office hand-me-downs.

For a printer that simply doesn’t support color, the only real fix is hardware. The good news is that modern home color printers — inkjet or laser — handle this setting automatically out of the box. Once you’ve set the driver to color, it holds that preference for every future print job. Revisit this menu only if prints suddenly come out gray again, which usually means someone reset the defaults.