View and inspect
PCB fabrication data on Windows

Installation

PCB Explorer is distributed through the Microsoft Store as a single package that installs both the desktop app and the Windows Explorer shell extensions.

🔄 What gets installed

The Interface

PCB Explorer has a simple left-hand navigation. You can open a board by clicking Open a PCB file, dragging a file or folder onto the window, or launching it from Windows Explorer.

📂 Opening a board

A PCB is rarely a single file — it is usually a set of Gerber and drill files that together make up the board. PCB Explorer handles that for you: point it at any one layer and it gathers the rest.

• Click Open a PCB file and pick any board file — a single Gerber, a drill file, a .gbrjob job file, a native .kicad_pcb / .brd, or a container such as .pcbzip.
• Drag and drop a file or a whole folder of Gerbers from Windows Explorer onto the PCB Explorer window.
• In Windows Explorer, right-click a board file and choose Open with → PCB Explorer, or click Open with PCB Explorer in the preview pane.

Windows Explorer Integration

Once PCB Explorer is installed, Windows Explorer gains thumbnails, a rich preview pane, and file details for board files — no extra steps required.

👁️ Using the preview pane

The PCB Explorer preview pane is a compact version of the full viewer. A layers panel runs down the left, a draggable divider separates it from the board, and a small header carries the controls:

Better Shell Integration (all users, administrator required)

PCB Explorer can register its board handlers with Windows itself, for every user on the PC. This turns on the board thumbnails, the preview pane, and the Explorer file details / properties for all supported board files. Because it changes the machine, Windows asks for administrator approval when you turn it on or off.

🛠️ Install, update, uninstall

Everything is done from Settings → Shell Integration. The card shows the current status and the matching action button, and each action prompts for administrator approval (a standard Windows UAC dialog).

⚙️ Why it needs administrator, and why updates are separate

Windows resolves thumbnail and preview handlers from a machine-wide location that only an administrator can write. So this integration installs for all users and asks for approval. It's copied to a stable per-machine folder, so it keeps working across app updates and even if the Store app is removed. Because it lives outside the app package it doesn't update itself, so a newer app version flags update available and one click refreshes it.

Viewing Boards

The Board page is PCB Explorer's main viewer. It renders your board with high-fidelity vector graphics and offers several ways to look at it, selected from the view tabs.

🎞️ View modes

🔍 Zoom, pan & fit

Use the Zoom dropdown at the top of the page to jump to a preset zoom level, or type a custom percentage. Over the board, hold Ctrl and scroll to zoom smoothly around the cursor; scroll (or scroll with Shift) to pan. Fit buttons frame the whole board, its width, or its height instantly.

🎨 Board colour & appearance

The Board colour menu recolours the board to match a real finish or a viewing style. It applies to the 2D composite, the stack, and the 3D view.

The background / transparency colour behind the board is a separate control, and is also used as the fill when you export to a format that doesn't keep transparency.

Layers & Overlays

The Layers panel lists every layer in the board. Overlays are display aids drawn on top of the board to help you read it — they are toggled from the Overlays menu on the toolbar.

🧱 The layers panel

🗺️ Overlays

🪞 Outline (True Size) mode

Outline mode draws every feature as a coloured wireframe of its true contour instead of filling it, so overlaps and registration between layers — and features hidden under a copper plane — show through. It works in the viewer and in exports.

Inspection Tools

Beyond viewing, PCB Explorer gives you the read-only inspection tools you'd expect from a Gerber viewer.

3D View

The 3D tab builds an interactive three-dimensional model of the board by extruding its layers, so you can see the stackup and the board's shape in space.

Board Properties

The Properties page shows information about the open board — file facts, computed statistics, a drill schedule, and any metadata carried by a job file.

Exporting

PCB Explorer can convert your board into raster images, PDF, SVG, and CAD files. The export page shows a live preview and lets you export several sizes in a single click.

🧊 2D and 3D previews

The export page shows a normal 2D preview and, when the 3D layer is enabled, a 3D preview side by side, so you can see what each export will look like before you run it. The preview reflects your background and board-colour choices.

📏 Sizes & options

Each size in the list produces one output file: the board's longest side is scaled to that many pixels and the other dimension scales proportionally. Common options include preserve transparency, include metadata (PDF / SVG / DWG), and the outline (True Size) style. The DXF / DWG export adds fabrication-oriented options: file units (inch or millimetre), line widths, replacing arcs with polylines, and outputting round pads as circles.

Settings

The Settings page groups the app's options. Most viewing choices are made in context (zoom, colours, overlays on the Board page; options on the export page).

Appearance & behaviour

Explorer thumbnails

Shell integration

The Shell Integration card installs, updates, or removes the machine-wide registration that makes PCB Explorer's thumbnails, preview, and details show for every user on the PC — even when another design tool is your default. Each action needs administrator approval. See Better Shell Integration for the full walkthrough.

The About section shows the app version and a link to detailed System Information — useful when reporting an issue. Your export folder, template, sizes, colours, and background are remembered automatically between sessions.

Supported Formats

Input — what PCB Explorer reads

PCB Explorer reads the fabrication files a factory receives, plus the common native board formats.

Containers — a whole board in one file

A board is usually many files. PCB Explorer opens them together from a folder, or from an archive:

Export

Raster exports cover the image formats registered on your Windows system; PDF, SVG, and DXF / DWG are vector. A green dot marks formats that keep transparency; a blue dot marks vector formats.

Keyboard & Mouse

Quick actions in the PCB Explorer app and in the Windows Explorer preview pane.

In the board viewer

In the 3D view

In the Windows Explorer preview pane

Limitations

PCB Explorer is a fast, accurate viewer, inspector, and exporter — not a PCB editor or a CAM authoring tool. Knowing what it focuses on, and how a few things depend on the file type and Windows version, helps set expectations.

🏭 Not for manufacturing

PCB Explorer is a viewer and inspection tool — it must not be used to manufacture a board or to sign off a design for production. It shows you what the fabrication files contain, but it is not a CAM tool: it does not run design-rule or manufacturability checks, it does not panelise or generate tooling, and its rendering and derived figures (board size, copper area, drill counts) are inspection aids, not a manufacturing report. What you see on screen may differ from what a fabricator's CAM software produces. Before you commit a board to production, verify it in your PCB CAD / CAM software and with your board house — never on the strength of PCB Explorer alone.

✏️ View & inspect only

You can open, inspect, and export boards, but you cannot edit them or write changes back to Gerber / drill / native files. PCB Explorer never modifies your original files.

🗂️ How a board is assembled (folders & archives)

Because a board is a set of files, PCB Explorer gathers the siblings of the file you open. Where those siblings live matters:

🏷️ Layer classification depends on the files

PCB Explorer decides what each file is (top copper, bottom mask, drill, …) most reliably when the data tells it:

• Best: a .gbrjob job file, or Gerbers with embedded X2 attributes — the role is stated in the data.
• Good: no attributes, but standard file names — PCB Explorer recognises common naming schemes (top/bottom copper, mask, paste, silk, and numbered inner layers).
• Fallback: unusual vendor names may be classified as Unknown or shown as documentation drawings. Such layers still render on their own and in the stack, but the realistic top / bottom composite may be sparse because the side / role couldn't be determined.

⬡ Board shape & off-board artwork

A rounded, chamfered, or otherwise non-rectangular board silhouette is taken from the outline / profile layer. If the fileset has no outline layer, the board is shown as its bounding rectangle. Artwork placed outside the board edge (a silk note, a fabrication drawing) is shown, not clipped — matching how a Gerber viewer behaves.

⊕ Plated vs non-plated drills

PCB Explorer separates plated (PTH) from non-plated (NPTH) holes only when the drill data carries that information — a .gbrjob file function, an embedded attribute, or a PTH/NPTH file name. A single, merged drill file with no such marker is shown as one schedule, without the split.

🧊 2D versus 3D

The 3D view is a layer-extruded approximation for visualisation. It deliberately differs from the flat 2D composite in a few ways — how the board edge is treated, how the sidewalls and finish are styled, and which fine artwork is shown. These differences are intentional, not defects. The 3D view is not a manufacturing solid model, and does not model plating thickness, copper weight, or bent flex.

📊 Derived figures are estimates

Statistics such as copper area are gross coverage figures summed across the copper, not precise net areas with overlaps resolved. Hole counts and the drill schedule are measured from the drill data. Treat these as quick inspection aids, not a manufacturing report.

🧩 Native board formats

KiCad, EAGLE, and LibrePCB boards are read directly, but very new or unusual board features may not render completely. The Gerber / Excellon output of any tool is the most universally supported path, so when in doubt, export your board to Gerber from your CAD tool and open that.

🥇 One thumbnail / preview provider per file type

Windows normally lets only one app provide thumbnails and the preview pane for a given file type — the one set as the default for that type. If another Gerber or CAD tool is the default for a board extension, Windows uses its thumbnails and preview instead. You have two ways around this: set PCB Explorer as the default in Windows Settings → Apps → Default apps, or turn on Better Shell Integration, which registers its handlers for all users so they show up regardless of the default (a one-time setup that needs administrator approval). PCB Explorer intentionally does not take over the system .zip / .rar types.

🚫 Preview blocked for internet files (Windows 11 25H2)

Starting with Windows 11 25H2, Microsoft blocks the File Explorer preview pane for files that carry the "Mark of the Web" — files downloaded from the internet. This affects every file type and is a Windows security decision, not something PCB Explorer can override.

Tips & Tricks

📦 Package a board as one shareable file

Zip a board's Gerber and drill folder and rename it to .pcbzip — or, if you'd rather compress with RAR, rename the archive to .pcbrar. Either one carries a PCB Explorer thumbnail and preview in Windows Explorer, and opens as the complete board with a double-click — on Windows 10 and 11 alike.

🔬 Reading a dense board

Switch to the All layers stack and drop the All layers opacity to see through the copper; turn on D-codes to label pads; or use the magnifier and outline mode to check registration between layers.

🥇 Thumbnails or previews don't show (another app is the default)

Windows follows the file type's default app for thumbnails and previews. If another program handles a board extension and is set as default, its thumbnails win. The quickest fix is Better shell integration:

1. Open PCB Explorer's Settings → Shell Integration (see Better Shell Integration) and click Install. Approve the administrator prompt.
2. PCB Explorer's thumbnails, preview, and details now show for all supported files, for every user — regardless of which app is the default.

Prefer not to use the machine-wide option? You can instead make PCB Explorer the default app for a board extension in Windows Settings → Apps → Default apps. Either way, run Settings → Reset Thumbnails if old cached thumbnails linger.

🔄 Thumbnails look out of date?

After changing colours or thumbnail settings, click Reset Thumbnails in Settings. You can also clear Windows' cache with Disk Cleanup: press Win+R, run cleanmgr, tick Thumbnails, and click OK.

🌙 Dark mode

PCB Explorer follows your Windows theme by default. For a fixed look, choose Light or Dark explicitly in Settings. For the board itself, the Dark (X-ray) appearance theme is handy for inspecting inner layers.