PDF to Markdown

A tiny, no-fuss desktop app for Windows, Linux and macOS that converts PDFs (and other documents) to Markdown.

Drag your files in, click one button, done.

Built on top of Microsoft's open-source markitdown library (MIT). This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.

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Features

• Drag & drop files onto the window — or click the drop zone to browse.
• Files pile up in a list (drop a whole folder and it grabs the documents inside).
• One Convert All button converts every file in the list.
• Each result is saved as <name>.md next to the app (the same folder as the .exe, or this script when run with Python).

That's the whole app. No menus, no settings to fiddle with.

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Option A — Download the app (Windows, no Python needed)

Grab PDF-to-Markdown.exe from the Releases page, put it in any folder, and double-click it. Converted .md files appear right next to the .exe.

Windows SmartScreen may warn the first time because the file isn't code-signed: click More info → Run anyway.

Option B — Run from source (Windows, Linux, macOS)

You need Python 3.10+ (https://www.python.org/downloads/; on Windows tick "Add Python to PATH"). The first launch sets everything up automatically.

• Windows: double-click run.bat.
• Linux / macOS:

  chmod +x run.sh    # first time only
  ./run.sh

Manual start:

python -m venv .venv
# Windows:        .venv\Scripts\activate
# Linux / macOS:  source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py

Linux/macOS note

tkinter may be a separate system package:

• Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install python3-tk
• Fedora: sudo dnf install python3-tkinter
• macOS (Homebrew Python): brew install python-tk

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Build your own .exe (Windows)

Double-click build_exe.bat (installs PyInstaller and builds). The result is dist/PDF-to-Markdown.exe — a single standalone file. On Linux/macOS use the equivalent PyInstaller command shown inside that script.

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Other formats (Word, PowerPoint, Excel…)

Only PDF support is installed by default. To convert Office files, add the matching extra inside the virtual environment:

pip install "markitdown[docx]"    # Word
pip install "markitdown[pptx]"    # PowerPoint
pip install "markitdown[xlsx]"    # Excel

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License & credits

• This app's own code is released under the MIT License — see LICENSE.
• Document conversion is powered by markitdown © Microsoft Corporation (MIT).
• The packaged .exe bundles several open-source libraries; their notices are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. Keep that file alongside the .exe if you redistribute it.