How do I open Gerber files without buying a CAD seat?

Good news: the designators are almost certainly in that zip already, they're just not in the loose Gerbers. The jumbled silkscreen text you're seeing is normal. Gerbers are basically plot instructions, so the silk layer is just a bunch of drawn shapes. If your viewer draws it, that's all you get. Nothing wrong with your files, that's just how the format works. In old-school Gerber the text has no meaning attached, it's just strokes and flashes, so you can't search it or match it to a part list.

The ODB folder is your friend here. ODB++ is a smarter format that carries actual component data, so it knows that a rectangle is U3 pin 7 and not just copper. If the board house gave you that folder, open it with a viewer that reads ODB++ and you'll be able to click a pad and see the reference designator. That's the fastest route to finding TP7. Most proper viewers handle it, including the one the poster above built, which is handy since it runs locally and there's no upload involved, which matters if the board isn't something you can share around. A couple other things worth checking in the zip. Look for a file with 'fab' or 'drawing' or 'assembly' in the name, sometimes with no extension or a .pdf. That's usually the fab drawing and it often has a drill table and test point callouts. Also peek at the .drl file in a text editor, the tool numbers and sizes sometimes give you a hint, though that won't tell you which hole is TP7 by itself.

One more trick if all else fails: open the silk layer alone, turn all copper off, and just look at the text near your expected location. Even jumbled, the designators are drawn somewhere, and once you know roughly where TP7 should be from the schematic or an older revision, you can match it up. Comparing against revision B if you have those Gerbers helps too, since test points rarely move far between revisions.

You rely too much on the computer telling you everything. I remember when we were still dealing with pure PDFs and old CAD outputs, and the digital files were useless. The fastest way I've ever found to track a test point like TP7 was to ignore the layers entirely and cross-reference the schematic against the physical assembly drawing they send. Those drawing sheets are often more accurate than the Gerbers themselves. If the designators are missing from the digital files, you just have to start at the functional block and trace the pins manually.

If you don't have the schematic handy, even a rough sketch with the part numbers and general area will do. It's frustrating when documentation gets lost, but the physical drawing is usually the final word on component placement.

I've been running into this same issue when trying to verify signal traces, not just test points. It feels like the data for component mapping is always hiding somewhere else. My last project had a really complex layer stack up, and the silkscreen view made tracing a specific line almost impossible. Do any of you know if there is a standard way to export the pad or component data into a readable list, or if we are always stuck just looking at the drawings?

I ran into this exact problem once when chasing a signal trace for a complex MCU power rail. I stopped trying to find the reference designator and instead looked at the physical placement of the components around where TP7 should have been placed. Back then, the only thing that relly helped me was a magnifying glass I picked up from a local electronics shop. It let me physically measure the distance between the test point pad and the nearest component pins, which usally helped narrow down the exact hole. Even if the text is a mess, the physical density of the layout is consistent. If you know the schematic, seeing what components are immediatly adjacent to that test point can guide your search faster than relying on a jumbled silkscreen view.

I agree that checking the fab drawing is definatly the way to go. I remember needing to track a specific via because the silkscreen marking had been stripped off the component in a later revision. I used the reference ID listed in the drill file to pinpoint that exact pad location within the copper layers, which saved me a ton of guesswork. It's always smarter to cross-reference the manufacturer's supplied documentation instead of trying to rely solely on the jumbled visual layer data.

Update: the first reply was right, the loose files were a dead end. I opened that ODB folder and the viewer I'm using picked it up with all the part labels intact, so I can actually see where TP7 landed on rev C. Still fuzzy on one thing though. Do I need to load the drill file alongside it to line the holes up right, or does that data sit in the ODB folder too?