Does this work with scanned PDFs?

No. This tool extracts embedded text from PDFs. Scanned documents contain images of text and require OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert. Use our OCR PDF tool for scanned documents.

Why is some text missing or jumbled?

PDFs store text in visual order, not reading order. Complex layouts with columns, tables, or text boxes may not extract in the expected sequence. The tool works best with simple, single-column documents.

Are images and tables converted?

Currently, only text content is extracted. Images and complex tables are not converted to Markdown. Tables may appear as plain text without formatting.

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. All processing happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript and PDF.js. Your file is never uploaded to any server.

How does heading detection work?

The tool analyzes font sizes in the PDF. Text significantly larger than the body text is treated as a heading. Larger fonts become H1, medium-large become H2, etc.

Can I convert password-protected PDFs?

Password-protected PDFs cannot be processed without first unlocking them. Use our Unlock PDF tool to remove the password, then convert to Markdown.

PDF to Markdown

Convert PDF documents to clean Markdown format. Extract text with automatic heading detection and list formatting. Works with text-based PDFs.

Upload PDF File

Click to upload or drag and drop

Supports PDF files

Preserve line breaks

Detect headings

Detect lists

Extract text from PDF files and convert to Markdown format

Works best with text-based PDFs. Scanned documents may require OCR.

Features

Text Extraction

Heading Detection

List Recognition

Multi-Page Support

Configurable Options

Privacy First

Common Use Cases

Documentation

Convert PDF manuals and docs to Markdown for wikis or GitHub.

Research Papers

Extract text from academic PDFs for note-taking and citations.

Report Conversion

Transform PDF reports to editable Markdown format.

Content Migration

Move PDF content to Markdown-based CMS or documentation platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions