topic Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink? in Desktop Inkjet Printers

PIXMA MX922 How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

ryevick — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 11:35:51 GMT

I have the MX922 and it is using up color ink fast even with the preferences set to grayscale printing. How do I disable use of color ink and monitoring? I'm sick and tired of having to buy color ink cartridges when I am only printing black text documents!

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

Patrick — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 19:00:10 GMT

Hi ryevick,

The PIXMA MX922 will use color ink tanks to print colored text. Even if the grayscale option is checked in the printer driver, if the original text is in a color other than black, the PIXMA MX922 will combine the cyan, magenta and yellow ink tanks together to make a composite black. This is why your color ink cartridges are still being used.

To use only the black ink tank, the original text must be black and the paper setting must be set to Plain Paper.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

ryevick — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 20:04:06 GMT

It is and has been set to Plain Paper, I am not printing color text as I stated in my original post.

I am printing BLACK text documents only. There is NO coloer to them but the printer uses up my color cartridges the forces me to buy more because it locks down the printer. This is outrageous! No wonder all over the internet people talk about the scam being run by ALL printer manufacturers.

How do I disable the use of the color cartridges or the monitoring of them??? If they run out and I have black in in my TWO required black cartridges, I should not have the printer lock up and stop printing BLACK text on PLAIN PAPER!

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

ryevick — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 22:09:30 GMT

I am sick of this. I can at least post reviews so other people don't buy this piece of junk. An Amazon review will be posted within the next 5 minutes.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

BillS — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 22:17:31 GMT

Hi ryevick,

You stated in your original message that you were using grayscale printing. I would like to reiterate that grayscale is not black, but a simulated black using the color cartridges.

You can disable the ink sensor by pressing and holding the red Stop button for 5-7 seconds. This should allow you to continue printing, although printing with an empty ink cartridge will damge the printer over time.

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Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

ryevick — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 00:03:08 GMT

So you are saying this printer goes against everything printers have always been setup to do in grayscale? See the following video.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

BillS — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 23:59:32 GMT

Hi ryevick,

At the risk of stating the obvious, black ink is not gray, it is black, and it cannot be made to look gray. You may be confusing grayscale with monochrome or black-and-white printing, which does only use black ink. In grayscale, up to 255 gray tones (including simulated black) can be rendered, using various mixtures of cyan, magenta, and yellow.

I understand the purpose of the video, but it is not persuasive in that prints before and after the settings change are not shown, nor does it provide any evidence that ink usage changes. I regret the misinformation.

This didn't answer your question or issue? Please call or email us at one of the methods on the Contact Us page for further assistance.

Did this answer your question? Please click the Accept as Solution button so that others may find the answer as well.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

ryevick — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 18:04:58 GMT

I made the suggested changes and the printer is still using up color cartridges. I only print black text.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

step — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 23:08:04 GMT

This is utter rubbish. I printed using only a black cartridge for years on my previous Canon printer. Shameless.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

eMuni — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 14:51:31 GMT

So I guess the real question here is...How do I print documents, which may contain colors, in only black? Can you let us know as I am having the same expensive problem.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

ryevick — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 14:40:56 GMT

yes, you're right, i'm making it all up.,, i have nothing better to do

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

ryevick — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 14:55:13 GMT

I just noticed this thread has 9479 views. Seems like A LOT of people want to know the answer to the simple title of this thread.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

bobbrannigan123 — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 20:24:39 GMT

What about replacing the color cartridges with blank ink cartridges?

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

VTprinter — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 01:39:25 GMT

Will you please answer the question why you cannot turn off the color ink? I am tired of blowing through color just printing black documents.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

MrMyke — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 13:35:40 GMT

It sounds like you might be able to print using only the black cartridges by specifying MONOCHROME or BLACK & WHITE instead of grayscale. I haven't tried it myself, but that sounds like it may work.

Or - someone earlier mentioned swapping all the color cartridges with black. If that does work, you won't be able to use the printer for color printing again without changing the printhead.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

VTprinter — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 01:18:29 GMT

I specify Black and White and it still uses color. I am blowing through color cartridges while the larger black cartridge remains unused. This is true with my windows device, Mac and iPad. Cannon, How about some help? Ryevick got the run around. This is not a PICNIC error.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

MrMyke — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 13:35:29 GMT

I've found another method.

I'm using a Canon TS9120 on Windows, so it may be different for others.

Wtihin the 'Devices and Printers' section of the Control Panel:

RIGHT-select the printer and choose 'Printing Preferences' from the drop-down menu
At the top of the next window, select the tab 'Page Setup'
Near the bottom of that page, select 'Print Options'
Another window should open, select the 'Print With' dropdown menu and choose the 'Only PGBK (Black)' option.
Select 'OK' until you exit the opened windows

That might do it. It works for us.

original post:

Do you have a choice for monochrome instead of Black & White? If not, I'm all out of ideas on that.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

Marsden — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 07:34:18 GMT

At the suggestion of another comment here I went to my printer options for the TR4500 to fix this same issue. I have printed 5 copies of the same black and white picture, absolutely no colors, and no matter what settings I put it on, it still prints grey. My current settings are set to print with black ink only, as that's an option. However, when I try to print, even after turning off "let the app change my printing preferences," a pop up error tells me, "The [Print With] setting below will be disabled if you print with the current print settings.

Print With: Black Only"

So no matter what *I* want, the printer is set up to do what *it* wants. Why have those options in there if I can't use them? Was the point just to give me the illusion that I could do what I want? As soon as I can I'm getting another printer that isn't a Canon. This is shameful. I don't want grey pictures, I want BLACK pictures.

Re: How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

bobsmithe — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 23:56:33 GMT

This is how I print with black only on a TS5300:
1. Page Setup->Print Options->Print with: Black Only
2. Media Type: Plain Paper

It seems that selecting some other media types (e.g. photo paper) will give the warning "[Print With] setting will be disabled"

Re: PIXMA MX922 How Do I Turn Off Color Ink?

Knowalot — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 22:26:28 GMT

10/5/23 I called today. I spent so much money on color cartridges. Tried everything. Same feelings as you! The answer I got was ALWAYS SELECT COLOR. Even if your document/page doesn't have color, it will message the printer to use the small black ink cartridge. Because, BLACK IS A COLOR! Forget the grayscale. Turn that off. (If grayscale is checked, you can uncheck it by going to your printer through your computer) That will also make the printer put colors together in an attempt to make black ink just like selecting black. So, when you are copying manually select color. When printing from your computer, select color. You know the large ink cartridge is for photos. It is a different ink that will not smear on glossy paper. I'm going to start doing this today. I'm sure it will work. I don't know why I never thought of this. It's just common sense. Good luck.