How to make my display Grayscale?

I want to reduce the saturation of my laptop monitor to the point that it is almost grayscale. That's the goal.

Intel and Asus don't have an answer. Asus Splendid and the intel graphics control panel can increase the saturation, but not lower it.

I would prefer a software solution, although I DIY'ed a vga grayscale adapter for my desktop.

I have an Asus UL30A with an Intel GMA 4500MHD. I know that the latest ATI cards, windotosh's and high end nvidia cards all support control panel desaturation.

Why? black and white makes me 3 times more productive. https://youtu.be/NUMa0QkPzns?t=2m50s

Ray Foss

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 884

3I wonder how black and white can be more productive, it would annoy me a lot and you will lose the difference between colors... If you want, could you share an explanation? – Tamara Wijsman – 2010-07-02T21:10:11.937

Have you tried High Contrast mode? – Hello71 – 2010-07-03T02:54:44.233

1Basically, there is a correlation between fun and being unproductive, thus killing fun should make you more productive, appartely that is the case. – Ray Foss – 2010-07-03T04:42:24.607

@TomWijsman https://youtu.be/NUMa0QkPzns?t=2m50s there is actual research on this

– Ray Foss – 2018-02-24T16:37:31.380

I use Macintosh computers, which can natively turn on/off the greyscale/color option, so it's easy to do what you want. To explain the "why" anyone would like to do that, I say that it generates much less radiation, so it's much easier on your eyes and, therefore, you can work for many hours without any visual effects from the display. If you wish to see any particular feature in color, you simply switch your screen to color mode in a second and that's it. Everything is simpler on Macs. Cheers – None – 2012-02-18T15:41:10.950

Forget about productivity; it just looks nicer, not to mention being easier on the eyes. Windows turns the screen greyscale under certain circumstances. I just watched my screen go greyscale and thought it looked pretty good. I’m doing some programming in the dark at the moment, so I don’t need bright colors stabbing me in the eyes. – Synetech – 2012-06-22T04:13:03.300

Answers

I found a way using an accessibility software. It isn't perfect, but this program: http://users.telenet.be/littlegems/MySoft/DesktopZoom/Index.html can be set to zoom 1000/1000 and has greyscale modes of 4,8,16,32,64,128,256 colors. It works on xp and Vista. Only issue is that occasionally, the color peeks through before the program greyscales it. The invert mode is very much like the high contrast theme.

bigjohnny

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 106

It took me several trys acros several months to finally figure out how to get it working. I gotto say, its finicky, but its better then nothing. – Ray Foss – 2010-11-21T04:01:43.723

works fine (win7) (it does flicker, though, and it disables Win Aero) but don't forget to turn off "no screen changes if not zoomed". Unlike some other screen inversion software, this doesn't even break touch screen capabilities. – John Dvorak – 2013-09-28T18:21:20.280

Windows 10 go to:

Settings -> Personalisation

On the right hand side of windows, under 'Related Setting' -> High contrast settings -> Color Filters -> Chose a filter 'Grayscale'.

Short way:

Press Windows logo key+Ctrl+C to toggle the colour filter on or off.

Artur Paprzycki

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 51

If you have NVidia graphics, open NVidia control panel and set "Digital Vibrance" to 0% from here.

On my control panel for Nvidia Optimus so far I can't find any such setting. I can set Saturation to 0% for video content and that at least works for video playback (but not Flash content).

Simon B.

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 140

Use the NegativeScreen app. Best mode is the Negative Grayscale IMO, makes your screen very xeno, especially if you have a minimalist custom theme.

It has customizable color transformation matrices, so you can tweak the output as you need, e.g. besides getting the grayscale you can lower its contrast, produce inverted grayscale, etc.

It can be quickly activated/deactivated using a hotkey, so whenever you need to see real colors (e.g. when checking a color image or a photo), you can toggle it easily.

user306115

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 41

Intel Graphics Users

Display > Intel Graphics > Graphics Properties > Basic Mode > Color Enhancement

Set saturation to -100.

Sorter

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 391

Nice find ! Very nice ! – Quandary – 2017-06-30T08:52:32.360

The latest version of f.lux (https://justgetflux.com/) supports greyscale mode (Windows key + End is the shortcut key) on any version of Windows. Press the shortcut again and you're back to full color mode.

Coder12345

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 614

I am also interested in this solution, and I think that it could be done by using a color profile. Google for "Windows Color Management: Background and Resources" and you find "ICC profiles are used to communicate through the rest of the color management system to ensure that colors are represented accurately to users, regardless of the device used for display or printing. ICC profiles for devices offer great flexibility and control, and can be used to describe the unique color management capabilities of a particular device. To take advantage of ICC profiles in Windows, each device must have its ICC profile installed. This can occur automatically when the device is installed, or the user can use the Display Control Panel to associate a profile from the device manufacturer." This page: http://www.color.org/opensource.xalter allows you to find tools that can design those profiles that you can use in windows.

Good luck,

bigjohnny

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 106

If you have an Intel core, you can right-click the desktop, click "Graphics Properties...", go to Color Management, then turn the saturation down.

thefish728

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 11

If your video card properties has a saturation value you can set, and it can go all the way to zero, then just set it zero. Your screen will be instantly turned to grayscale! Not all video cards support this though, but a lot do these days. My machine has a low-end AMD 3D card (not to be confused with ATI), and it can even do it.

Greg Dolley

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 11

-2

If you have Windows 8 just right click go to graphics properties and turn everything to the minimum contrast,hue,saturation,brightness and it will become greyscale my 4 year old brother did that and gave us all a heartattack but we fixed it now haha

Sahara

Posted 2010-06-27T14:19:01.627

Reputation: 1