How can I print colored text to a mono printer in pure black & white (no shades of grey)?

Article contributed by Robert Rosenberg

The option to print that way is available through the printer's settings on color printers, but is not an option on black & white printers (particularly lasers).

The manual work-a-round is to click Tools -->Options -->Compatability Tab and turn on the “Print colors as black on noncolor printers” option. After printing the document, turn the feature back off.

The following macro will automate this process for you.

Note: The macro does not “dirty” the status of the document. It makes sure it's in the exact same condition after the print job.

Sub PrintBlackAndWhite()

Dim bPrintBlackAndWhite As Boolean
Dim bSaved As Boolean
Dim doc As Document


On Error GoTo Error
'Set a reference to the active document
Set doc = ActiveDocument
On Error GoTo 0

'If a document was active, proceed
If Not doc Is Nothing Then

    With doc

       'Store the current save & black & white conditions
       bSaved = .Saved
       bPrintBlackAndWhite = .Compatibility(wdPrintColBlack)

       'Set the Black & White option to true
       .Compatibility(wdPrintColBlack) = True

       'Display the Print Dialog
       Dialogs(wdDialogFilePrint).Show

       'Set the save & black & white back to their
       'original condition
       .Compatibility(wdPrintColBlack) = bPrintBlackAndWhite
       .Saved = bSaved

    End With

End If

Exit Sub

Error:
    'Gracefully exit if no document is active
End Sub