Before post-processing activities there are important steps you should take to finish the board. They include:

· renaming your components

· back annotating the board information to the schematic

· documenting board dimensions

· previewing the layers

After these, running the post processor and creating the documentation and manufacturing files and reports represent the main activities of "post-processing".

Viewing the Post Process spreadsheet

In Layout, almost all post processing functions, including previewing layers, are performed using the Post Process spreadsheet.

To open the Post Process spreadsheet

1 From the Options menu, choose Post Process Settings. The Post Process spreadsheet appears.

In the Post Process spreadsheet, you can view the following information:

Plot Output File Name

Indicates the filename extensions given to the plot output files. To change file extensions, double-click in the heading cell to select all the rows in the spreadsheet and bring up the Post Process Settings dialog box. Type an asterisk and a period (*.) in the File Name text box, then choose the OK button.

Batch Enabled

Indicates whether output will be generated for the layer ("Yes") or not ("No"). To toggle the setting, double-click in a Batch Enabled cell to bring up the Post Process Settings dialog box, select or deselect the Enable for Post Processing option, then choose the OK button.

Device

Lists the name of the target device. Layout supports either direct plotting or output to file for Gerber, Extended Gerber, DXF, and the print manager.

Shift

Lists any special shifting, rotation, mirror, or scaling requirements.

Plot Title

A entry you supply that identifies generated reports and provides notes for future Layout sessions. Comments can include up to 100 characters.