Convert Primitive to Path using SVG format in Illustrator

Question

I've got a simple drawing in Illustrator consisting of multiple rectangles. I will need to handle that in code later one and saved the document as SVG.

The rectangles come out as <rect /> nodes in SVG format. Is there a clean way to convert the rectangles from primitive types to a path in Illustrator ? If so, how ?

So far my hacky solution was to use Object > Path > Simplify and because I was dealing with simple boxes with no transformations applied I've also ticked the Straight Lines. This worked well for boxes (kept the same number of vertices and look)

Is there a cleaner/less hacky way to convert a primitive to a path in Illustrator ?

Answer 1

The trick is to turn the path in to a Compound Path (CMD + 8). That makes the SVG output an actual path rather than a primitive type.

Answer 2

Found anther method: Editing the primitive's anchor points. I've tried several things and looked at the generated code and it looks like simply moving an anchor point a wee bit back and forth does the trick (and also doesn't mess up the look of the shape)