PDF to Markdown
Turn the text of a PDF into Markdown with headings, paragraphs and lists, without uploading the file.
Results are provided as is, for general information. Check anything important before relying on it. See the Terms of Use.
About PDF to Markdown
Pulls the text out of a PDF and lays it out as Markdown. Lines set larger than the body text become # headings (the largest size is level 1, the next level 2, and so on), lines that wrap are joined into paragraphs, bullets and numbered lines become lists, and a word split by a hyphen at the end of a line is joined back together. Headers, footers and page numbers that repeat in the top or bottom margin of most pages are removed, and you can mark where pages end with a rule or a comment. It reads the text layer that the PDF already contains, so a scan or a PDF made of images has nothing to read and the tool says so: there is no OCR. Headings are found from text size alone, so bold, italic, tables, multi-column pages, images and footnotes are not detected; text from side-by-side columns can come out interleaved. Check the result against the PDF before relying on it. Password-protected and damaged files are refused with a clear message. Everything runs in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded.
When to use PDF to Markdown
PDF to Markdown FAQ
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read in your browser by PDF.js, the open-source PDF reader from Mozilla, and nothing is sent to a server. You can confirm this in your browser's network tab.
Why does it say no text was found?
The PDF is probably a scan or a set of images, so it has pictures of text rather than text. This tool does not do OCR. Run the file through an OCR program first, or copy the text from a version that was exported straight from a word processor.
How does it decide what is a heading?
By text size. The size used for most of the characters is treated as body text, and a short line set at least 15 percent larger becomes a heading. Sizes are ranked, so the largest becomes # and the next largest ##. A bold line at body size is not a heading, and a large line that is not really a heading (a pull quote, a big number) can be mistaken for one.
What happens to tables, columns and images?
Nothing special. Table cells come out as lines of text, side-by-side columns can be read across instead of down, and images are left out. For a table or a two-column paper, expect to tidy the result by hand.
Why were some lines removed?
The option Remove repeated headers, footers and page numbers drops a line in the top or bottom tenth of a page when the same line (ignoring digits) appears on at least half the pages, and at least three. It needs three or more pages. Switch it off if a real line was dropped.
Are special characters escaped?
Yes where they would otherwise change the Markdown: asterisks, backticks, angle brackets, underscores at the edge of a word, and text that begins like a heading, quote or numbered list.
Is there a limit?
One PDF up to 100 MB and 500 pages, because the work happens in your device's memory. The preview shows the first 200,000 characters; Copy and Download include all of it.