Creating the Gerber and Drill Files

While some PCB manufacturers can take a KiCad data file directly for a design, the introduction of KiCad 7 in 2023 has some manufacturers behind on supporting the new file format. No worries, we'll export the files needed. Select File -> Fabrication Outputs -> Gerbers shown below.

Use the Plot button to generate the Gerber files. I recommend making a subdirectory under your project to put them in. After that press the Generate Drill Files button. Save the files in the same directory as the Gerber Files.

These files describe exactly what each layer should have with the drill files showing the exact place to have holes drilled.

Go to the directory with all the generated files. Zip all the files into one Zip file package. If a board house cannot use KiCad 7 files, they will definitely use the raw files, most often sent in a single Zip file.