Print PDF file without background

Sometimes I need to print a pdf file that has a black background or some heavy background images, and that sucks up a lot of ink. Is there any method to remove the background from PDF files before printing? Anything that works on Windows or Linux.

113k 20 20 gold badges 204 204 silver badges 270 270 bronze badges asked Jun 25, 2012 at 0:55 8,828 21 21 gold badges 74 74 silver badges 106 106 bronze badges

Are you really sure that what occurs as 'background' to your eyes isn't really a black box that is painted onto the page first (and hence not 'background' but common page content), before all the other strokes and fills are done?

Commented Jun 25, 2012 at 11:46

4 Answers 4

In Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can set a custom background color (in this case: white) within the as part of the accessibility options.

The following instructions are for version 9. Other version should be similar.

  1. Press Ctrl + K or go to Edit -> Preferences .
  2. Under Categories , select Accessibility .
  3. Check Replace Document Colors and Custom Color .
  4. Set Page Background to white .
  5. Click OK .

Note: This will only work for some PDFs. Others will not retain the changes when printing.

answered Jun 25, 2012 at 1:36 50k 12 12 gold badges 134 134 silver badges 151 151 bronze badges @Bruce: did this solution really work for your file(s)? Commented Jun 25, 2012 at 11:46

@pipitas I tested with one of the files I need, and it worked. I didn't test all of them though. A few of them might be using black boxes instead of backgrounds (like you mentioned) and these probably won't work.

Commented Jun 25, 2012 at 16:55

@pipitas Actually, I apologize for the confusion, but this method does NOT work. It hids the background when viewing the PDF, but when printing it the background is still there.

Commented Jun 25, 2012 at 23:40

@BruceConnor: I checked with other documents, and I was wrong to assume that it would work for all text-based PDFs. It works for some, however. I don't know why.

Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 0:48 That's what I suspected. That's why I asked. Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 11:50

I had this same problem except I was printing an 89-page pdf document of anatomical pictures. The problem? These pictures were sitting in a black background.

So my solution was:

  1. Convert PDF to DOCX (for word) with online converter.
  2. Open DOCX file on Word.
  3. Picture-by-Picture select the pictures, Click "Picture Tools"in the upper toolbar, then select Format.
  4. An option to "Recolor" appears on the left most side under neath the brightness and contrast buttons.
  5. Click your picture, then this button then the recolor button then select transparent and click the black background.

Hey presto, you have now saved as much black ink as would have been required for the picture without decreasing much if any of the picture quality.