How to Create a Polygon Shapefile in QGIS

Quick summary

This demo walks you through the full process of creating a polygon shapefile in QGIS, from opening the Add Shapefile Layer dialog to drawing and saving your first polygon feature on the map canvas.

Steps

1. Click Layer in the top menu, then select Create Layer and choose Add Shapefile Layer.
2. Click the Browse icon (…) next to the File name field to choose where to save the file.
3. Set the Geometry type to LineString or Polygon.
4. Click OK to confirm the new shapefile settings.
5. Tap the Toggle Editing (pencil icon) to enable editing on the layer.
6. Click the Add Line String tool or the Add Polygon tool if the geometry type is Polygon.
7. In the Shape panel, choose Polygon as the shape to be created.
8. Drag the tool on the map canvas to draw a polygon outline.
9. Right-click to finish the shape, then enter an ID and click OK in the dialog box.
10. Your polygon outline has been successfully created in QGIS.