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PDF to Markdown
Extract the text from a PDF as clean Markdown, with headings, lists, tables and links rebuilt from the layout. Your PDF is read in your browser and never uploaded.
Highlights
- Text-based PDFs
- Headings, lists & tables
- Files stay on your device
- No sign-up
How to Convert PDF to Markdown
This converter pulls the text out of a PDF and rebuilds its structure as Markdown, ready for a docs site, a notes app or an AI prompt.
It works on text-based PDFs, the kind made by Word, Google Docs, a browser or a design tool. Scanned pages are pictures of text, so they have nothing to extract. There's no OCR here.
How the structure is worked out
- Headings — text noticeably larger than the body text, largest first.
- Paragraphs — wrapped lines are joined, and broken words are put back together.
- Lists and tables — from bullets, numbers and columns of aligned text.
- Clutter — page numbers and repeated headers and footers are dropped.
To use this tool, start with Step 1 below. In Step 1: Add a PDF, choose or drop a PDF, or load the example. In Step 2: Edit and export, compare the Markdown with its preview, tidy anything that needs it, then copy it or download a .md file.
Step 1 of 2
Add a PDF
Choose or drop a text-based PDF, up to 10 MB. It is converted as soon as it's added.
Drop your file here
It is read on this device and never uploaded.
.pdf · up to 10 MB
Nothing is uploaded. PDFs are read in your browser.
Step 2 of 2
Edit and export
Compare the Markdown with its preview and fix anything the layout didn't make clear. Changing an option above re-converts and replaces your edits.
0 characters · 0 lines
Preview
The formatted preview will appear here.
PDF to Markdown guide
Get the text out of your PDFs, with its structure
Copying text from a PDF gives you broken lines, stray page numbers and lost headings. This tool reads the layout and gives you clean Markdown instead, ready to edit, publish or paste into an AI tool.
The basics
How does PDF to Markdown work?
A PDF is a set of positioned words, not a structured document. The converter reads those positions and sizes and works backwards to the structure.
Rebuild lines
Words on the same baseline become lines, ordered top to bottom.
Find structure
Sizes, indents, gaps, bullets and columns reveal headings, paragraphs, lists and tables.
Write
The result is written as escaped, GitHub-flavoured Markdown, ready to edit.
What carries over
What carries over from a PDF
What each part of a typical text-based PDF becomes in Markdown.
| In the PDF | In Markdown | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Larger text | # to ###### | Sized against the body text. Bold-only headings stay paragraphs. |
| Wrapped lines | Paragraphs | Lines are joined, and words hyphenated at a line end are rejoined. |
| Bullets & numbers | - and 1. lists | Indentation becomes nesting. |
| Aligned columns | Pipe tables | Simple one-line cells with clear gaps between columns. |
| Monospaced text | ``` code blocks | Indentation is estimated from position. |
| Link annotations | [text](url) | Clickable links in the PDF stay clickable. |
| Headers, footers, page numbers | Removed | Lines repeated at the top or bottom of most pages are dropped. |
Use cases
When to convert PDF to Markdown
Turn a fixed document back into text you can work with.
AI prompts
Give ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini a long report as clean text instead of a PDF upload.
Docs & wikis
Move old PDF manuals and policies into a docs site, wiki or Git repository.
Notes & research
Pull papers, articles and handouts into Obsidian, Notion or Logseq.
Quoting & editing
Get editable text from a PDF without retyping or fixing broken lines.
Content reuse
Turn a published PDF into blog posts, emails or web pages.
Accessibility
Get plain, well-structured text that's easier to read aloud or reflow.
Set expectations
Where PDF to Markdown falls short
Being honest about the limits helps you decide if it suits your file.
Scanned PDFs
Pictures of text have nothing to extract, and there's no OCR here.
Complex layouts
Multi-column pages, sidebars and text boxes can come out in the wrong order.
Complex tables
Wrapped, merged or borderless cells may come out as plain lines.
Scanned page or screenshot? Use Image to Text, which reads text from pictures on your device.
Common questions
PDF to Markdown FAQ
Quick answers about converting PDF files to Markdown.
How do I convert a PDF to Markdown?
Choose or drop your PDF in Step 1, or press Load example. The tool reads every page and rebuilds headings, paragraphs, lists and tables as Markdown. In Step 2, check it against the preview, make any edits, then copy it or download a .md file.
Does it work with scanned PDFs?
No. A scanned PDF stores each page as a picture, so there's no text to extract, and this tool doesn't do OCR (reading text from images). If a PDF has no text layer, the tool tells you. For scans, take a screenshot or photo of the page and use our Image to Text tool, which does read text from pictures.
How can I tell if my PDF has text?
Open it in any PDF viewer and try to select a word. If you can highlight individual words, it has a text layer and will convert. If clicking selects the whole page like a picture, it's scanned.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The PDF is opened inside your browser tab using pdf.js, the PDF engine built into Firefox. Nothing is uploaded or stored, so it's safe for contracts, statements and other private documents.
How does it find headings and lists?
PDFs don't record structure, only where each piece of text sits and how big it is. The tool takes the most common text size as body text and treats noticeably larger lines as headings, biggest first. Lines starting with bullets or numbers become lists, and aligned columns become tables. Each option can be switched off if it misfires on your file.
Why are some headings missing?
Headings are recognised by size. A heading set in bold at the same size as the body text looks just like a short paragraph, so it usually comes out as its own paragraph instead. Add the # marks yourself in Step 2.
Are tables converted?
Simple tables, with one line of text per cell and clear gaps between columns, become Markdown tables. Cells that wrap onto several lines, merged cells and tables without clear gaps may come out as plain lines of text.
What about multi-column layouts?
Text is read in rows across the page, so newsletter or academic layouts with two or three columns can mix lines from different columns. Single-column documents convert best.
Are images and links kept?
Clickable links in the PDF become Markdown links. Images aren't extracted: Markdown can't hold them without a separate file, and charts or diagrams usually need redrawing anyway.
Can it open password-protected PDFs?
No. Open the file in a PDF viewer with the password, save a copy without protection, then add that copy here. The file size limit is 10 MB, and there's no daily limit.
Related converters
More converters
These tools also run in your browser, with no sign-up and nothing uploaded.
- PDFMarkdown to PDFTurn Markdown into a clean, print-ready PDF with margins, page numbers, styled code blocks and tables, made on your device.
- MDWord to MarkdownTurn a Word document into clean Markdown with headings, lists, tables and links intact, then edit, copy or download it.
- OCRImage to TextTurn photos, screenshots and scans into text you can copy, edit and download, with AI that runs on your device.