How to fill in areas surrounded by line segments?

Question

I have a rectangular shape and I added an "extension area" to it with several line segments and closed it back to the rectangle.

Specifically, I clicked on an anchor point off a corner of the rectangle drew several line segments off this point and connecting each by the anchor point of each segment. I drew and closed off this shape by drawing the line segment back to the rectangle's anchor point.

How do I fill in this new area with a color?

In the example below I'd like to fill in the "polygon shape" that's extended off of the rectangle with some non-white color. When I select the rectangle and polygon, I get a question mark: "?" in the fill area.

Answer 1

• Select All
• Grab the Live Paint Bucket Tool (it's underneath the Shape Builder Tool)
• Click once to make a Live Paint Group from the lines and shape
• Pick a color, and click the area you wish to fill.
• Click the Expand button on the Control Bar across the top of the screen to expand the Live Paint Group back to standard shape and paths.

Answer 2

What you probably have is two different shapes or 4 different lines and your rectangle.

Look in the layer window to see what you have cooking (Window>Layers)

if its 4 different lines, select them all, without the rectangle, and press CTRL or CMD +J, this will join them together. Then Fill.

If its 2 shapes your new polygon and the rectangle, just select the new polygon from layers and fill.

The "?" is cause by multiple objects being selected with different appearances. It cant show more than one so it shows "?".

Answer 3

Try using Live Paint Bucket Tool.