Markitdown Quick Action for macOS

A macOS Finder Quick Action that lets you right-click any file and convert it to Markdown using Microsoft's markitdown.

No terminal needed — just right-click, convert, done.

Features

• 📄 Right-click to convert — appears in Finder's Quick Actions / Services menu
• 📁 Batch convert — select multiple files at once
• 💾 Output in place — creates a .md file in the same directory as the original
• 🔔 Notifications — macOS notifications on success or failure
• 📑 Supports all markitdown formats — PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, HTML, images, audio, and more

Prerequisites

markitdown must be installed via Homebrew's Python (the default on most Macs):

pip3 install 'markitdown[docx,pdf,pptx,xlsx]'

Tip: Use markitdown[all] instead to enable every supported format (audio transcription, YouTube, etc.), though some extras may require additional system dependencies.

Verify it's working:

markitdown --help

Installation

1. Download or clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/danmunz/markitdown-quick-action.git

2. Copy the workflow to your Services folder:

   cp -r markitdown-quick-action/Markitdown.workflow ~/Library/Services/

3. Refresh Finder (optional — may happen automatically):

   /System/Library/CoreServices/pbs -flush

That's it!

Usage

1. In Finder, right-click any file (or select multiple files and right-click)
2. Choose Quick Actions → Convert to Markdown (or Services → Convert to Markdown)
3. A .md file appears in the same directory

For example, converting report.docx produces report.md alongside it.

Troubleshooting

Quick Action doesn't appear in the context menu

• Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Extensions → Finder Extensions and make sure Convert to Markdown is enabled.
• Try logging out and back in, or restarting Finder.

"Failed to convert" notification

• Make sure markitdown is installed and working from the terminal first: markitdown yourfile.pdf
• Install additional format support if needed: pip3 install 'markitdown[all]'

markitdown not found

The Quick Action looks for markitdown at /opt/homebrew/bin/markitdown (the default Homebrew location on Apple Silicon). If your setup is different, edit the workflow in Automator to adjust the PATH.

How It Works

The Quick Action is an Automator workflow (.workflow bundle) containing a shell script that:

1. Receives selected file paths from Finder
2. Loops through each file and runs markitdown <file> -o <file>.md
3. Sends a macOS notification with the result

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Acknowledgments

• markitdown by Microsoft — the excellent Python tool that does all the heavy lifting