Inkhue 1.3.0

Print a color photo as a plain-looking black-and-white page. Scan it, and the color comes back.

What's new

• Multi-page PDFs. Every page of a PDF is now converted, not just the first — both when hiding color and when revealing it from a multi-page scan. Turn the pages with ‹ › beside the output sheet; print, Export PDF and Export Color include all pages (one PDF, or numbered images).
• PDFs longer than 20 pages ask before starting, since converting them takes a while.
• While working, the display counts pages (PAGE 3 OF 12). In a multi-page scan, a page without hidden color is skipped and the rest still decode.
• New website: tonyd365.github.io/Inkhue, with a download button for your system and a live roadmap.

Pages printed with earlier versions still decode.

Download

Platform	Installer
macOS · Apple silicon	Inkhue-v1.3.0-macos-arm64.pkg → Applications
macOS · Intel	Inkhue-v1.3.0-macos-x64.pkg → Applications
Windows 10/11 · 64-bit	Inkhue-v1.3.0-windows-x64-setup.exe
Ubuntu / Debian · x86-64	Inkhue-v1.3.0-linux-x64.deb

Installed apps update themselves. Tips: print at 100 %, scan in grayscale at 600 dpi (at least 400). See the wiki.

Inkhue 1.2.1

Print a color photo as a plain-looking black-and-white page. Scan it, and the color comes back.

What's new

• Scan at 400 dpi. Pages now decode reliably from 400 dpi scans — 3× faster than before. Recommended: 600 dpi; minimum: 400 dpi (previously 1200 / 900).
• Tougher decoding: badly printed or scanned pages decode about twice as often, thanks to a more precise way of measuring the page grid and sharper reading of the printer dots.
• Fixed: 1.2.0 called some 400 dpi scans "too coarse" when they were readable.

Pages printed with earlier versions still decode.

Download

Platform	Installer
macOS · Apple silicon	Inkhue-v1.2.1-macos-arm64.pkg → Applications
macOS · Intel	Inkhue-v1.2.1-macos-x64.pkg → Applications
Windows 10/11 · 64-bit	Inkhue-v1.2.1-windows-x64-setup.exe
Ubuntu / Debian · x86-64	Inkhue-v1.2.1-linux-x64.deb

Installed apps update themselves. Tips: print at 100 %, scan in grayscale at 600 dpi (at least 400). See the wiki.

Inkhue 1.2.0

Print a color photo as a plain-looking black-and-white page. Scan it, and the color comes back.

What's new

• Documents work now. Notes, worksheets and slides — pages that are mostly white paper — used to come back as random colors. Inkhue now keeps at least one dot in every cell of such pages, so blank areas carry data too. Highlights, colored text and charts come back.
• Better color: the neural refiner was retrained on photos plus documents. Color error on a real worksheet fell by almost half; photos improved in every test condition.
• Damaged areas stay black and white instead of filling with random colors ("Partly restored").
• Upside-down or sideways scans are recognized automatically.
• Clearer messages: a page that wasn't made with Inkhue says so and explains the Hide color → print → scan steps; a scan with too low a resolution is pointed out.
• Scanner: if a scanner can't be reached (asleep, busy, other network), the scan window says why instead of staying blank.
• School and office printers with sign-in or "release at the printer" now tell you what to do.

Pages printed with earlier versions still decode.

Download

Platform	Installer
macOS · Apple silicon	Inkhue-v1.2.0-macos-arm64.pkg → Applications
macOS · Intel	Inkhue-v1.2.0-macos-x64.pkg → Applications
Windows 10/11 · 64-bit	Inkhue-v1.2.0-windows-x64-setup.exe
Ubuntu / Debian · x86-64	Inkhue-v1.2.0-linux-x64.deb

First install: macOS → System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway; Windows → More info → Run anyway. Installed apps update themselves. See the wiki for printing and scanning tips (print at 100 %, scan in grayscale at 1200 dpi, at least 600).

Inkhue 1.1.1

Maintenance release: no changes to the app itself.

• Fixed a CI test that timed out on macOS after Fill the paper became the default.
• Pull requests are labelled more accurately.

If you're on 1.1.0 there is nothing new for you; updating is harmless.

Platform	Installer
macOS · Apple silicon	Inkhue-v1.1.1-macos-arm64.pkg
macOS · Intel	Inkhue-v1.1.1-macos-x64.pkg
Windows 10/11 · 64-bit	Inkhue-v1.1.1-windows-x64-setup.exe
Ubuntu / Debian · x86-64	Inkhue-v1.1.1-linux-x64.deb

See the wiki for installation help.

Inkhue 1.1.0

Print a color photo as a plain-looking black-and-white page. Scan it, and the color comes back.

ColorHide is now Inkhue

Same project, new name. Pages printed with ColorHide 1.0 still decode — the on-paper format did not change. If you installed ColorHide 1.0.0, please install Inkhue from this release (1.0.0 can't update itself across the rename).

What's new

• Better color: the neural refiner was retrained on 8× more photos — color error down about 7 % in typical scans and 11 % in harsh ones, with more detail, at the same speed.
• Writing on the page is fine now: pen strokes across the black frame used to stop decoding; now the color comes back, and the handwriting stays in the picture like it is on paper.
• Fill the paper (on by default): photos print as large as the paper allows at 100 % — larger prints mean sharper color. The width box shows centimetres and how many pixels the color comes back at.
• Print panel with a live preview: every printer and driver option, Save as PDF, copies, layout, paper, pages per sheet, margins, scale, two-sided, headers and footers.
• Faster neural decoding (~25 %), and more robust page detection overall.

Download

Platform	Installer
macOS · Apple silicon	Inkhue-v1.1.0-macos-arm64.pkg → Applications
macOS · Intel	Inkhue-v1.1.0-macos-x64.pkg → Applications
Windows 10/11 · 64-bit	Inkhue-v1.1.0-windows-x64-setup.exe
Ubuntu / Debian · x86-64	Inkhue-v1.1.0-linux-x64.deb

Not signed with a paid certificate: on macOS, open the .pkg, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway; on Windows, More info → Run anyway. Checksums in SHA256SUMS.txt; every file has a GitHub build-provenance attestation.

Print at 100 % (ideally a laser printer), scan in grayscale at 1200 dpi. Real-world results are very welcome — use the 🖨️ Print / scan report issue template.

ColorHide 1.0.0

Print a color photo as a plain-looking black-and-white page. Scan it, and the color comes back.

The first stable release of ColorHide.

Download

Platform	Installer
macOS · Apple silicon	ColorHide-v1.0.0-macos-arm64.pkg → installs into Applications
macOS · Intel	ColorHide-v1.0.0-macos-x64.pkg → installs into Applications
Windows 10/11 · 64-bit	ColorHide-v1.0.0-windows-x64-setup.exe
Ubuntu / Debian · x86-64	ColorHide-v1.0.0-linux-x64.deb

The installers are not signed with a paid certificate. On macOS, open the .pkg once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. On Windows, choose More info → Run anyway if SmartScreen appears. Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS.txt and carries a GitHub build-provenance attestation.

What's in it

• Hide color: a data-carrying halftone stores the photo's color in the arrangement of the printer dots; the page looks like an ordinary black-and-white print, with dots placed to keep edges sharp.
• Reveal color: scan the page (grayscale, 1200 dpi) and get the color back, protected by Reed-Solomon error correction and redundancy. A small neural network (ONNX, runs on the CPU) recovers it at 2× the cell resolution.
• Printer-style app for macOS, Windows and Linux, with a print panel and live preview: every printer and driver option, Save as PDF, copies, layout, paper, pages per sheet, margins, scale, two-sided, headers and footers.
• Scanning straight from scanners and multifunction printers (ImageKit / WIA / SANE), or import a PDF or image.
• Export the recovered photo as PDF, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP, HEIC and more; zoom to full resolution in the app.
• Automatic updates from future releases, verified by SHA-256.

Tips

Print at 100 % scale at the printer's native resolution (600 dpi), ideally on a laser printer. Scan in grayscale at 1200 dpi with sharpening off.

Results from real printers and scanners are very welcome — please use the 🖨️ Print / scan report issue template.

ColorHide v0.1.0 (preview)

First preview build of ColorHide: print a color photo as a plain-looking black-and-white page, scan it back to color.

• Printer-style desktop app for macOS (Apple silicon + Intel), Windows and Linux
• System print dialog, lossless PDF export/import, scanning via ImageKit / WIA / SANE
• Export the recovered color as PDF, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP and more
• Neural refiner (ONNX) for cleaner color

This is a pre-release for testing the build pipeline; it is not offered to the auto-updater. Real-world print/scan reports are very welcome — use the Print / scan report issue template.