No color print option

[HomeSysAdmin007]

Have searched high and low throughout system prefs and even used CUPS interface to try and enable color printing on my brand new HP Envy 6455 to no avail? What's the secret? (And why, for the love of God, why??)

[RonaldGBennett]

Did you get an answer to this simple question?

I have a new HP Envy 7858 and have the same problem.  All document types preview and print in black and white.  Looked through the "HP Smart" app as well and found not a word about how to switch between color and B/W printing.

I have a somewhat simpler question, which is, "Where in the setup/preferences dialogs for printing can I find the control that allows me to select B/W vs color printing?".

I'm sure it's there, just well hidden.

[HomeSysAdmin007]

No answer yet. It must be so embarrassing for HP that they can't write drivers that run reliably on the major operating systems. 

[HomeSysAdmin007]

I gave up waiting for help from the "Community" and initiated a chat with HP support directly. They requested shared access to my desktop and went through a fairly complicated printer install process and settings change via the printer's IP address. In the end we got the color option to finally show up in the preferences interface. So weird that that's what it took. I've worked IT help desk in big firms and been a contractor to communications departments for Fortune 400 corporate offices. I've installed literally hundreds of printers onto hundreds of different networks and workstations and operating systems over the years. I've never seen this problem before. Not impressed, HP.

[RonaldGBennett · Accepted solution]

OK, I have fixed this on my Mac desktop.  The underlying problem if anyone from HP is listening seems to be that "HP Smart" had installed an incorrect or old version of the driver, which omitted the "Black & White" checkbox from the printer dialogs as well as the color-related presets and had an old version of the "Media & Quality" popup selections.  Like HomeSysAdmin007 (thanks for the post), the fix required removing and reinstalling the driver, but through a simpler method than using the printer's IP address.

Here is the fix:

1. Shutdown the printer and disconnect the power cord from the 110VAC outlet to clear any troublesome caches.

2. Click on "System Preferences" -> "Printers & Scanners".  Select the HP Envy Photo printer and click the "-" minus sign to remove the bad driver.

3. Plug in and turn on the printer.

4. Click the "+" symbol to open the "Add Printer" dialog, which should initially be empty.

5. Run "HP Smart" to access the latest driver.  Wait a minute for the HP Envy Photo printer to appear in the add printer list.  The "Kind" of driver that worked for me was "Bonjour Multifunction".  Select that printer in the list and click the "Add" button.

6. Select a document (for example an email or a webpage) with color on it and select File->Print to bring up the printer dialog box.  At this point the preview image of the document on the left side of the printer dialog should be in color.  Also, the printer dialog box will now have a "Black & White" checkbox in the upper center (make sure it is not checked), and the "Presets" list should include "Color" and "Color - Fine" options.  Again, make sure the Presets are not set to "Black and White".

That should do it.  This issue is can be marked "Fixed".

PS, by an odd coincidence, about 20 years ago I managed the HP ink jet printer driver QA and test teams in Vancouver.  So this is not my first go-around.