PDF to Markdown Converter
Convert PDF documents to clean Markdown text. Extract headings, paragraphs, lists, and tables with structure preserved. 100% browser-based โ your files never leave your device. Free online PDF to Markdown converter.
Click to select or drag a PDF file here
100% browser-based โ your file never leaves your device
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the PDF to Markdown converter work?
The tool uses pdf.js to extract text content and layout information from each page of your PDF. It analyzes font sizes and styles to detect headings, paragraphs, and lists, then converts them into clean Markdown syntax. All processing happens in your browser โ no file is ever uploaded.
What types of PDFs work best?
Text-based PDFs (digital documents, exported from Word/Google Docs, research papers) produce the best results. Scanned PDFs (images of text) won't work well because they don't contain extractable text โ you'd need OCR first. Two-column layouts (e.g. academic papers) are automatically detected and handled correctly when "Auto-detect columns" is enabled.
Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?
No. All processing happens entirely in your browser using the pdf.js library. Your files never leave your device, ensuring complete privacy and security.
Does it handle two-column academic papers?
Yes! When "Auto-detect columns" is enabled (on by default), the tool analyzes the X-coordinate distribution of text on each page to identify column boundaries. It then processes the left column completely before moving to the right column, producing correct reading order for two-column layouts like IEEE, ACM, and Springer papers. Full-width elements such as titles and abstracts are automatically separated from column content.
How does heading detection work?
The tool analyzes font sizes across the document. The most common font size is treated as body text, while larger fonts are mapped to H1โH4 headings based on their relative size. In "By bold text" mode, bold lines are treated as headings. You can also disable heading detection for plain text output.
Can I edit the Markdown after conversion?
Yes! The output textarea is editable. You can fix formatting issues, remove unwanted content, or restructure the text before copying or downloading. The preview tab updates live as you edit.
Is there a file size or page limit?
There's no hard limit, but very large PDFs (100+ pages) may take longer to process and use more memory. The tool processes pages sequentially with a progress bar so you can monitor the conversion. For best performance, we recommend PDFs under 50MB.
What about tables and images in the PDF?
Tables are approximated as Markdown tables when the layout allows. Images are not extracted โ only text content is converted. If your PDF contains important visual information, you may need to supplement the Markdown with manual image references.
What about mathematical formulas and equations?
Formulas are the hardest part of PDF text extraction. Simple inline math (like E = mcยฒ) usually comes through fine, but complex formulas โ fractions, integrals, matrices, summations โ often break because PDF stores them as scattered character fragments with special font encodings. Greek letters may appear as their Latin keyboard equivalents (e.g. "a" instead of "ฮฑ"), and subscripts/superscripts may end up on the wrong line. This is a known limitation of pure text-based extraction (even commercial tools rely on OCR for reliable formula conversion). For math-heavy papers, we recommend using the output as a starting point and manually fixing formula sections.