Shape Builder No Longer Working

[Joanne5C71]

Hi all! I'm coming to you with a rather unusual problem. I'm using Adobe Illustrator 2021 and I'm still getting accustomed to the program (really only started using it last week).

So, here's my issue. I'm trying to make a cactus and I need to use the shape builder to combine it the way I want to. But out of the blue, the tool just... stopped working? I don't really know how else to describe it. I tried shutting down Illustrator and restarting it, but that didn't work. I'm on a PC laptop on Windows 10. I included several screenshots for reference (sorry if they're out of order!). Any help is appreciated 🙂

[Kurt Gold · Accepted solution]

What happens if you turn on the Gap Detection in the Shape Builder options and experiment a bit with different Gap Length settings?

[Joanne5C71]

That fixed the issue! Thank you so much!

[Kurt Gold]

And a big thank-you to you, Joanne, for taking the time to accompany your request with relevant screenshots that immediately explain the situation in question.

A prime example that shows in a commendable way how precise questions make it pretty easy to provide possible solutions.