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After completing the PCB design in KiCad, the final step is to generate Gerber and drill files, which will be sent to the PCB manufacturers for production. This article uses the demo project provided with the KiCad software. All steps have been tested in KiCad version 8.0, and there may be slight variations if using a different version of KiCad.

Generate Gerber

Tips: To avoid some potential manufacturing issues, it is strongly recommended to perform a DRC (Design Rule Check) before exporting Gerber files.

Open the PCB file with the extension .kicad_pcb, then click on "File" -> "Fabrication Outputs" -> "Gerbers (.gbr)..." as shown in the following image.

After clicking, the Gerber setup window will appear as shown in the following image. Please refer to the image below for the settings.

Next, click on the "Plot" button at the bottom of the window. All generated Gerber files will be placed in the target folder you specified earlier.

If there are expired zone fills and you forgot to refill them, when you have checked the "Check zone fills before plotting" option, KiCad will prompt you for confirmation. Simply click on "Refill", and the file generation process will continue.

Generate Drill Files

In the Gerber generation window, click on "Generate Drill Files..." located in the bottom right corner.

This will open the Drill file settings window, as shown in the image below. Please refer to the image for the settings.

Next, click on the "Generate Drill Files" button at the bottom of the window. All generated Drill files will be placed in the target folder you specified earlier.

At this point, the export of Gerber files and Drill files is complete. By default, they are usually placed in a folder named "CAM" within the directory where the PCB file is located. The Gerber files can be found within this folder, as shown in the following image.