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When you load in QGIS a shapefile without a PRJ file, you can set the coordinate system, but no PRJ file is created.

This older question: How to obtain .prj files in QGIS?

has an answer saying menu "Vector - Data Management Tools - Define Current Projection" does it, but it is not present in recent versions. Any suggestion of how to do it?

Of course, I can do it manually, copying the PRJ file of some other shape, but probably there is a way of doing it from within QGIS menus.

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There is a tool named Define Shapefile Projection for that purpose in the processing toolbox. The toolbox has a pretty useful search option that finds also this tool with search term "prj".

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  • Thanks. That must be the tool that was before under menu "Vector". Jose'
    – JAGonçalves
    Commented Mar 23, 2020 at 23:51
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You have first to set the CRS of your layer by right clicking your layer > "Properties..."
Then under "Set source coordinate reference system" select the CRS of your choice and hit [OK].

set layer CRS

Finally, you have to export your vector data to an ESRI Shapefile (it can be a new one) by right clicking your layer > "Export" > "Save Features As..."

export layer

Then your layer *.prj file will be there, nearby your freshly exported data on the disk!

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    I have done this and the .prj still is not being created. Anything else I might be missing?
    – Travis Webb
    Commented Jan 17, 2021 at 21:10

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