Boardview Files for Laptop and Desktop Motherboards

A boardview shows the physical layout of the PCB: every part outline, pin and test point, and the net each pad belongs to. Click a pin and the viewer highlights every other pad on the same net, which is how you find where a signal from the schematic actually goes on the board.

Boardview files come in several formats — .BRD, .BDV, .FZ, .CAD, .TVW, .ASC and others — and each viewer supports a different set. OpenBoardView is free and opens the common ones; FlexBV supports more formats.