Exported PDF Black isn't Black (Says the printer)

[Avalerion]

So I exported my InDesign artwork as a press quality PDF. Looks great. The printer is bitching that the blacks aren't correct and only that aspect is holding up the job. I have all blacks set as CMYK (0,0,0,100). I have a front and back cover which are both SOLID BLACK and some reversed out text (white text on black boxes inside the booklet). They're saying that the PDF shouldn't be CMYK... and I'm not too new at this, but I don't get what they're looking for (or if it's an export setting.) Help!

 

[jmgalvin]

I'm guessing that your job is b&w or grayscale and the printer is flipping out when seeing the cmyk info.

I have to deliver grayscale ads to newspapers and have to print grayscale postscript and run it through Distiller to get that.

On the blacks: Adobe advises that you always use the built in black swatch in indesign, rather than making your own. You should also make sure that nay background without color is set to "no color" rather than "paper"

You're also usually better off leaving (in indesign preferences - general) "overprint black" on. The built in black swatch overprints by default. Other blacks won't unless you set them to - individually.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4