: Illustrator: how to intersect shapes properly I have a triangle (purple) and a rectangle (white). Is there a way to delete all the white part of the rectangle lying outside of the purple triangle's

@Phylliss782

This is easy via Erase mode of the Shape Builder tool:


select all objects
select Shape Builder Tool (Shift+M) and holding Alt erase outer parts of object.

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@Marchetta832

You are correct, you should be using pathfinder. Here's how I did it...


Copy both items so they are ready to be pasted. Select both objects and use the intersect tool in the pathfinder menu.





You are left with only the white portion.





Now paste the items you had copied, using Cmd+F (paste in front). This will paste the objects exactly where they were before.





Delete the larger white rectangle so you only have the blue triangle and the smaller white shape we created. It will look like this because the white shape is hidden behind the blue triangle.





Send the blue triangle to the back using object>arrange>send to back.

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@Ann6370331

Intersect should work.


Copy the triangle to clipboard
Intersect the shapes
Press CTRL+F to paste back the original triangle in the same position
Press CTRL+SHIFT+[ to push the triangle to the back

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