How to Export Gerber Files from Proteus ARES
By INDiPCB ·
Proteus is the tool a very large number of engineers in India learn on, and its Gerber export is straightforward once you know where it lives and what the output is supposed to look like. The part that causes the most doubt is the file extension, which we will come to.
This covers the PCB layout side, ARES.
Step 1 — Open the CADCAM output dialog
From the menu bar: Output → Gerber/Excellon Output. Depending on your version this may read Output → Generate Gerber/Excellon Files. Both open the same CADCAM Output dialog.
CADCAM is simply Proteus terminology for manufacturing output. It is not a different format — what comes out is ordinary Gerber and Excellon.
Step 2 — Set the format to RS-274X
In the Gerber format option, choose RS-274X. This is the extended format that carries aperture definitions inside the file itself.
The older RS-274D format keeps apertures in a separate list, and if that list is missing or mismatched the board cannot be interpreted correctly. There is no reason to use it today, and choosing it is a reliable way to have your files queried.
Step 3 — Choose the layers
Tick the layers your board actually uses. For a standard two-layer design that means:
- Top Copper and Bottom Copper.
- Top Silk (and Bottom Silk if you have printed anything on that side).
- Top and Bottom Solder Resist — the soldermask.
- Mechanical or board edge — the outline.
- Drill data — Proteus writes this alongside the Gerbers.
Also worth knowing: there is an option that draws the board edge onto every layer. It can be helpful as a visual reference, but if you do not want it, uncheck the Edge option in the same dialog.
Step 4 — Output to a single ZIP
Set the output to a single ZIP file rather than a loose folder. Proteus will assemble the whole set for you, which removes the most common packaging mistake — sending some of the files but not all.
Choose an empty output location per revision. Two revisions of a board in one folder is a genuinely common cause of the wrong version being manufactured.
Why the files end in .TXT
Proteus writes its Gerber and drill output with a .TXT extension. This alarms people, and it is the single most common question about Proteus exports — it looks as though the export has failed and produced notes instead of manufacturing data.
It has not. The contents are standard RS-274X Gerber and Excellon drill data; only the extension is unusual. Any competent fabricator or Gerber viewer reads them by content rather than by file name.
Do not rename them to .GBR or .GTL in an attempt to help. Renaming files is how a copper layer ends up interpreted as silkscreen, and the result is not an error — it is a plausible-looking wrong board.
Step 5 — Check before you send
Open the ZIP and confirm you have copper for both sides, soldermask, silkscreen, an outline and drill data. If there are only three or four files for a two-layer board, something did not tick.
Then view it. Load the set into any Gerber viewer and look at the board as a fabricator receives it rather than as ARES draws it — the two differ more often than people expect, particularly around the board edge.
Uploading the ZIP on our order page does this for you: the board is rendered from the actual files, measured and checked, and you get dimensions and a price in a few seconds.