Why can't I print in just black ink?

I keep being told my colour ink has run out. It is VERY expensive. Why can't I choose to print just in black?

Please read this post then provide some details. What printer model?
HP and other printer manufacturers have different printer technologies for different needs. For inkjet printers:
Some have printheads built into the ink cartridges. These printers can typically print with one or more of the colors completely empty, or even with color or black (but not both) cartridges removed. The Deskjet 6980 series is an example, or for an all-in-one see the Officejet 8040.
Other printers have separate ink supplies and replaceable printheads. An example would be the Officejet 8600 series printer. The printhead in these printers can be replaced if they are damaged by running the printhead with colors out. Some of these printers will allow printing with a color out, other will not. If the printer is run without ink in one or more colors the printer may be damaged, but the user may be able to recover without having to send the printer for service.
Other printers have permanent printheads. To run these without some ink in all the colors would risk causing damage to the printhead due to clogs, air ingested in the printhead or burned out printhead firing resistors. The Officejet 6700 is an example of this type of printer. For printers with fixed printheads this could require service to get the printer to print properly again when the ink is finally replaced.
The document here describes how ink is used. While the document is written for HP Inkjet printers the same principles apply to inkjet printers from other manufacturers.
If you never print in color a laser printer would likely be a better choice. If you occasionally print color but mostly black an IPH printer like those in the first category above may be a good choice.
Bob Headrick, HP Expert
I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
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Cannot print with just black ink with a epson 9600

The printer works great but I have a color tint i my greyscael images. I would like to print only usig the black inks. when I go to
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Print mode should give you choice of Color or Black. Black means black ink only.
This will not give you a good looking print as it will be grainy and hard to control.
Consider using Quadtone RIP which will incorporate all needed colors to create a proper grayscale print with proper tones.
Quadtone RIP will probably offer the needed settings for this but it might require finding some files on the net.
Imageprint RIP is very good for this but is quite expensive.
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Can I print in just black and white from my iPad to an hp5510 photosmart printer?

Can I print in just black and white from my iPad to an hp5510 photos mart printer?
It seems ePrint is no longer available and now forced to use HP Connect. I am not seeing the option to print in black and white. Printing email messages in color is a waste of ink. Any help would be appreciated.
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I was using ePrint however that is auto-directing me to HPConnected and I no longer have the option to change the printing options to Black and White or Color. This is a recent change for me.
banhien wrote:
Hi,
Yes, you have to use HP Connected now. Do you use AirPrint or ePrint ? ePrint allows you to select Color or Grayscale under Color mode (note: Grayscale ALSO uses color inks).
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Deskjet 3070A - Why can't I print only black ink?! (Wastes so much ink/money!)

Hello. I have already posted this in another forum and the conclusion was to post it again here. The full post and replies are here. http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Ink-Toner-Cartridge-Printhead-Issues/Deskjet-3070A-Why-can-t-I-print-on... (will open in new window)
Basically, printing in black only seems to use almost as much color ink, forcing me to buy ALL the cartridges when I need only black. I understand that some color ink is used to keep the heads clean, but seems that quite a lot is used. I print "black only" but maybe Im not doing something right in the print setup or maybe this is a known issue. In any event, it is way too expensive to buy all cartridges and will have to scrap this printer if I cant fix it. Hope there is a solution.
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R

Hi rdbot,
To setup black ink only I would recommend the following:
Open TextEdit.
Click on File, then Print.
Select the printer.
Then next to presets, select Show Presets (it will be in a drop-down menu).
Look for Color/Quality and select it.
Then you can find options for black and white only.
You can see this guide, OS X Yosemite: Save your print settings to use later, as an example.
I noticed that there is not any full feature software and drivers for this printer for Mac OS X. So you will need to use the built-in driver through Apple. I would make sure all your Apple updates have been completed. Update OS X and App Store apps on your Mac.
If that still does not work, I would also recommend, resetting the print system, and then verify and repair disk permissions.
If you need to download the driver manually, you can find it at this website, HP Printer Drivers v3.0 for OS X.
Hope this clears things up for you, and have a wonderful day!
RnRMusicMan
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
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Why can't I print from my ipad?

I've had my iPad for almost a year now and I like it a lot. It looks very good, it performs very well even though I'm far from reaching my goal of only taking my ipad to school, nothing else.
One important reason why this won't be the case for quite a while still is that I can't print from the iPad.
Let me explain. I make quite a number of worksheets. Being a teacher this is one of the things you do so that the students have something to write on and do exercises. Over the years there have been many of these and my initial thought was to put them all on the iPad and print them when needed. But imagine my surprise when I found out that printing from an iPad seems to be near impossible.
Other colleagues of mine got themselves cheap EEPCs and they work fine. They can access the local printer easily printing whatever they wish. But I can't do that! Unless my school buys a new Air-thingy printer from HP I just won't print there! And that just *****.
I've bought a sleek and expensive machine that is so sophisticated - that I can't use it the way I want to. And that isn't even ******** about the file system that seems to be equally messed up.
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Thanks guys,
I seem to have understood by now.
To sum it up:
- I can print with the iPad directly if the printer is Airprint compatible.
- I can print via a number of more or less working apps.
I've downloaded some HP software for my iPad and even seem to be able to access it from some other apps, that is except Apples Pages app. Sigh! So whenever I have to make changes in my documents, I still can't print.
GoodReader on the other hand lets me send my documents to the HP app, but the app/HP won't let me print microsoft docs unless I register and send my documents over to HP where the printing prep is being made, then they send it back to me/my printer. Anyway GoodReader blows my layout apart, so I must change it on the iPad, but when I do …
It's a big catch.
You must realize that printing really isn't that comfortable and that as a spoiled old Mac user I might be excused for wishing something more workable.
The truth seems to be that I've got to carry all those docs on a USB-stick, move them over to the Windows-machine at our school and print from there - which is what I do on a daily basis already.
All those workarounds that may or may not work (check out user comments on those printing apps!) are so annoying that my overall question remains pretty much the same.
But I could also rephrase the question: Why can't I print from the so-called best tablet office app even if I am equipped with all the apps I apparently need?
Please understand that this is not Apple-bashing in any way. This is a real problem for me in my everyday life. I won't be persuading my school to buy AirPrint printers just because of my little problem and I honestly don't want to spend more money on printing apps that seem never to even have gone through beta testing.
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This question was solved.
View Solution.

Just received an update to the Android version of HP ePrint.
It now has the ability to print web pages! Thanks HP!
WyreNut
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Why can't I print a full page photo in Photoshop Elements 10???

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P.S. I can't even print a 8 x 10 properly!

Sarah, my printer drivers are updated! This problem seems SO COMPLICATED when it should be so easy! It's like the more advanced these programs get the less you can figure them out!!!! I'am ready to offer a reward to fix this!!! The stress of trying to figure this out is making me crazy!
From: saurabh288<mailto:[email protected]>
To: JULIE HIGH<mailto:[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 11:10 PM
Subject: Why can't I print a full page photo in Photoshop Elements 10???
Re: Why can't I print a full page photo in Photoshop Elements 10???
created by saurabh288<http://forums.adobe.com/people/saurabh288> in Photoshop Elements - View the full discussion<http://forums.adobe.com/message/5074854#5074854

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Adobe reader. It doesn't let you print on the scale you want.
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Why can't I print in just black ink?

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