how do i get the 8600 to print in only black ink?

[joaniek9]

How do I set the HP Pro 8600 Plus to print only in black ink?  I have tried  the "enable" option for black ink only under Preferences/Advanced but it doesn't seem to work.  Still keeps printing in color.

[8lives · Accepted solution]

Did you set the Grayscale option to Black Ink Only?

[joaniek9]

You are SOOOO smart!   Never thought of that solution.  Worked like a charm!!  Thanks very much for your help.

[Where_did_HP_go]

Well, that only kind of works. Go to devices, right click on the printer and select printer properties, NOT preferences and select the printer. Select the advanced tab at the top then the printing defaults button at the bottom of the window. This is where you want to set the Print in Greyscale setting to use black ink only under the advanced button. You may want to set it up in preferences also, but here is more critical. I found out the hard way that just setting it in preferences doesn't help you when your black cartridge gets low. When ours got low I was waiting for the printer to tell me to change the cartridge, but it didn't. I went to check to ink levels and our color cartridges suddenly went from 3/4 full to almost empty within a few days. I made this change and then the printer finished using the black ink. However, after changing the black ink, the printer is still using some color when printing because the yellow color ran out and when I went to print in what was set as black only the printer told me that the yellow was out and asked if I wanted to print with black ink only. I'm like what the because that's what it's supposed to be printing in anyway. It shouldn't need to ask me that question. So, make sure to set both settings on your computer to use black ink only to minimize as much as possible how much color ink the printer uses when you want it to only use black.