Turn a PDF into Markdown text
Pick a PDF and get a .md file with headings, paragraphs and lists already marked up, ready for a wiki, a static site or your notes app. The conversion happens in your browser.
- Files never leave your browser.
- No account needed
- No watermark added
- Works on any device
How it works
Step 1: Choose a PDF file or drop it on the page.
Step 2: Start the conversion and wait while the text is analysed page by page.
Step 3: Review the Markdown preview to check the headings and lists.
Step 4: Download the .md file or copy the text.
How a PDF becomes Markdown
A PDF does not store headings or paragraphs. It stores characters at coordinates on a page. To rebuild structure, the tool reads the text with PDF.js, measures font sizes, and treats the largest sizes as headings, using # marks for the level. Lines that follow each other with normal spacing are joined into paragraphs, and lines that start with a bullet character become list items.
Where the font information says a run of text is bold or italic, it is wrapped in the matching Markdown emphasis. The result is a plain .md file you can open in any text editor, paste into a documentation tool or commit to a repository.
This is a text-first conversion. Tables and images are not reproduced, and page layout such as columns is flattened into a single reading flow. Expect a good first draft that you tidy up, not a perfect copy.
Why use this tool
Structure, not just text
Headings, bullet lists and emphasis are detected from font size and style, so you skip most of the manual formatting.
Stays in your browser
The PDF is read locally and is not uploaded, which suits internal documentation and unpublished drafts.
Portable output
Markdown opens in any editor and works with Git, static site generators, Obsidian, Notion imports and most wikis.
Common uses
Migrating documentation to a wiki
A team with old manuals in PDF can convert them to Markdown and import them into a docs site, instead of retyping each page.
Notes from a paper or report
Turn a research article into Markdown, then quote, annotate and link it inside a personal knowledge base.
Feeding text to a writing workflow
Editors who work in Markdown can start from the converted text rather than copying paragraphs one by one from a viewer.
Publishing a PDF as a web page
Convert a newsletter or handbook, fix the headings, and run it through a static site generator to publish it as HTML.
What to check after converting
Because PDFs describe appearance and not meaning, a few patterns are worth a quick look in the preview before you use the file elsewhere.
- Headings: a large pull quote or a big page number can be mistaken for a heading.
- Hyphenation: words split across lines with a hyphen may keep the hyphen in the middle of the word.
- Headers and footers: repeated running text appears on every page and can be deleted in one search-and-replace.
- Lists: numbered lists may come through as plain paragraphs beginning with a number, which Markdown usually renders correctly anyway.
Supported formats
- Input
- PDF files (.pdf) that contain a text layer.
- Output
- A Markdown file (.md).
For plain text without markup use PDF to Text; for a web page use PDF to HTML.
Good to know
- Tables are not converted. Their text appears as ordinary lines, so a table needs to be rebuilt by hand (PDF to Excel handles tabular data better).
- Images and vector graphics are left out. Use Extract Images from PDF if you need the pictures.
- Scanned PDFs have no text layer and produce an empty result; run OCR PDF first.
- Heading levels come from font size, so a document that uses size inconsistently may get odd levels that you will want to adjust.
Your files never leave your browser
This tool runs entirely on your device using your browser. Your files are not uploaded to our servers and are not stored anywhere. Closing the tab discards everything.
Frequently asked questions
Does PDF to Markdown upload my file?
No. The text is extracted in your browser with PDF.js, so the PDF never leaves your device and nothing is stored by us.
Are tables and images included in the Markdown?
No. Only text is converted: headings, paragraphs, bullet lists and bold or italic text. Tables appear as plain lines and images are skipped.
Why is the output empty for my PDF?
The PDF is probably a scan, meaning each page is a picture with no real text. Run it through OCR PDF to add a text layer, then convert it again.
How are headings detected?
By font size. Text noticeably larger than the body text becomes a heading, and the largest sizes get the highest levels. If your PDF is styled unusually, adjust the # marks in an editor afterwards.
What is the difference between this and PDF to Text?
PDF to Text gives you plain text with no markup. PDF to Markdown adds heading marks, list markers and emphasis so the structure survives.