: Convert shapes and lines into a single outline Coming back to Illustrator after many years away, and I seem to have forgotten how to do what seems really elementary. Forgive my quick hand sketches...

@Barnes313

Although pathfinder will definitely work, using the Shapebuilder Tool (Shift+M) will probably be much simpler.

Just Select All and Click+Drag over areas to merge. Then select the area to delete and remove it (see included GIF)

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@Alves566

One way of doing it is using Pathfinder.

Given your example I would:


Your example [img 1]
Close all the lines into a single shape [img 2]
Use pathfinder to unite the resulted shape with the two farther
circles [img 3]
Use pathfinder with minus front to cut the middle circle out of the
newly created shape [img 4]

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