How to Change Digital Photos from Colored to Black-and-White with Microsoft Office

The difference between an everyday snapshot and a timeless masterpiece is often the difference between a regular colored photograph and its black-and-white counterpart. Changing an image to black and white can create a professional and classic look without much effort on your part. Regardless of what editing program you're using, making a colored image black and white is probably an option. Here are step-by-step directions for two basic Microsoft programs.

Microsoft Office Picture Manager

If you have Microsoft Office Picture Manager already on your computer, this is one of the easiest editing programs to learn and use, particular when discussing image saturation.

Locate the image you intend to edit. While viewing the contents of the entire folder, right-click on the image and select "Open With" from the pop-up menu. You will see a right arrow which you can drag your cursor across to find the title "Microsoft Office Picture Manager." If Picture Manager is not an option, you can scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on "Choose Program," from which list you should be able to find Picture Manager.

Once Microsoft Office Picture Manager has opened, click on the title "Picture," located in the middle of the top toolbar. From the dropdown menu, select "Color." On the right-hand side of the program a task pane will appear with an offering of various hue and saturation tools. The bottom tool simply entitled "Saturation" is what will be most useful in our present mission. Simply drag the Saturation lever to the very left, creating a Saturation level of -100.

If you're pleased with the results, simply select "File" and "Save As" to preserve your changes. I would recommend creating a different file name for your black-and-white version so that the colored image can remain unharmed. Exit the program without saving any additional, unintentional changes and you're done!

Microsoft Office PowerPoint

You can also achieve similar black-and-white results using Microsoft Office PowerPoint if you would rather use this latter program instead. Open PowerPoint and from the top toolbar select "Insert." From the dropdown menu select "Picture" and follow the right arrow over and down to select "From File." Select the desired image and click "Insert." Your image will appear in the center of the presentation, ready to be edited.

Click on the image, making sure it's highlighted, and locate the "Picture Toolbar." Many default settings automatically display the Picture Toolbar when you have an image highlighted, but if you can't find the toolbar, simply follow these directions. Click on "View," which is displayed on the top toolbar, scroll down to "Toolbars" and follow the right arrow over and down to "Picture." If the Picture Toolbar does not have a checkmark directly to the left of the title, click on "Picture" and the Picture Toolbar will open.

Looking at the Picture Toolbar, locate the icon second in from the left labeled "Color." Click on the icon and select from the dropdown menu "Grayscale." This effect will completely desaturate the image while maintaining its overall form (unlike the option "Black and White" which will completely adjust the image without using any shades of gray.)

If the initial black-and-white result is slightly unfavorable, changing the contrast levels and/or brightness levels will often improve a photograph. These levels can be adjusted using their corresponding icons also featured on the Picture Toolbar. Once satisfied, right-click on the image and select "Save As Picture" to preserve your changes.