I set my printer to primarily print in black and white. I need to print in color very infrequently & I don't know how to change it. I am using a Mac. Thanks!

You can control the format of your print-out via your Windows Printer properties (e.g. in W7: Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Devices and Printers -> Printers and Faxes section -> Double click on Printer -> Pinting preferences) : under Preference/Features - 'Color Options' should set to 'Print in Grayscale'.

May be you have enabled Black & White printing.
You can open the printer settings and check this.
If its not possible, select 'Printers and Faxes' from start menu, right-click your printer and select 'Properties'.
Click 'Printing Preferences' and, if the Black & White' setting is selected, select 'Color'.
Click 'OK'.
Click the 'Advanced' tab and click 'Printing Defaults' and here also select 'Color'.
Click 'OK' and again click 'OK' to close the property window.
Now try printing a color document.
If you succeed, consider voting my solution.

Open 'Printers and Faxes'.
Right-click your printer and select properties.
Click 'Printing Preferences' button (Close to the bottom of the dialogue).
Click 'Paper/Quality' tab from top.
Select 'Black & White'.

Click 'OK'.
If you want to use B&W cartridge for all documents, Click 'Printing Defaults' button from advanced tab and change the same setting.

Open printer properties.
Start --> Printers and Faxes --> (Right-click your printer and select properties)






Check whether you have selected 'Black & White' option for Color property in 'Printing Preferences' (in General tab) and 'Printing Defaults...' (in Advanced tab).


Set it to Color option.

Best of luck!

Hi,

Printing with only black and white as the primary color would be easy.

First, we would need to know what software are you using for printing.
It can be a black and white picture and/or just a simple word document.
Usually, when you print, there would the "Printer Options" first.
Once there, you would have options to change it to your liking.

If you have some problems. Don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Please leave a comment and ratings to help me improve my way of helping people here in fixya.

Have a good one...

Oliver

If this printer is like some of the HP printers I have serviced in the past, many printers like this use a tiny bit of color as a "primer" to make the black "blacker" and to prevent bleeding in systems where the color is dye and the black is pigment.
A number of printers may allow a "use black only" in the driver settings, but many other printers will simply refuse to print if the color runs out, even if you are printing black and white.
The short answer is, chances are, you need to replace the color cartridge.

Unfortunately, you need both ink cartridges to print with this printer.

you can print grayscale (black/white) by:

This for XP:

Start
Settings
Printers and faxes
Right click the printer icon an select printer preferences
Click the color tab and select grayscale


Windows 7:

Start
Devices and Printers
Right click the printer icon
Select printer preferences
Select features tab
Scroll down and add a dot to grayscale

If I could be of further assistance, let me know. If this helps or solves the issue, please rate it and give a testimonial for my response

Thanks, Joe


I’m happy to assist further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/joe_8b8c2cd6ce148309

Since I don't know what operating system you have on your computer, here are the steps for all Windows operating system from Canon for your printer. If these don't work, let me know but usually once you change the settings for black and white only, it works fine.

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/printers_multifunction/pixma_mx_series/pixma_mx310#ServiceAndSupport

check in the printer properties and make sure on the color page that "print in grayscale" is not selected. This option will make the prints all in black (grayscale)....

Yes. Any printer's default options can be set as desired. Open the printer's properties (Start/Control Panel/Printers/right click the printer and left click Properties), and change the setting as you wish, then click OK. Those settings should be used each time you use the print command, unless you change the settings for that particular print job.

Hope this helps, and please rate my advice, good OR bad.

Good luck!