How to convert a PDF to grayscale: a step-by-step guide

Drop the PDFs anywhere on the page, or press Add files. The pages of the selected file appear in grey right away - the screen's version of the result.

• Text and drawings keep their shape and stay selectable; each colour becomes the grey of the same brightness.
• Pictures are turned grey - photos, logos, scans.
• Gradients and colour fills get grey colours.
• Comments, highlights and form fields turn grey as well.

Nothing is turned into a picture of the page, so nothing gets blurry - and a file with many photos often gets smaller, as a grey picture needs less room than a colour one.

Press Convert to grayscale. The grey PDF is saved to your device at once - several files together as a ZIP - and the file list says what was converted in each: so many images, so many gradients.

A rare element that can't be converted - a JPEG 2000 picture, for instance - stays in colour, and the result says how many there were.

Without an account, and with a free one, you can convert two files in a run, each up to 15 MB. With Pro there is no limit on the number or the size. The tool has no settings to choose: every file is converted the same way.

• Smaller still for e-mail? Compress PDF.
• Several pages on one sheet to save paper? N-up (Multiple Pages per Sheet).
• Pages as pictures instead? PDF to Image.