Convert File Formats Using Pandoc

January 30, 2024 / by Yu-Shin, Hu

Mathematical formulas and pictures can be converted successfully!

• Convert Latex to other formats
• Convert other formats to PDF

Convert Latex to other formats

Steps

Step 1. Install the latest pandoc

• Pandoc installer
• For Windows system, download pandoc-3.1.11-windows-x86_64.msi

Step 2. Run in cmd: pandoc -s "input_file.format" -o "output_file.format"

• Remember to assign desired filename extension behind the input & output files
• Convert Latex to Word: pandoc -s "input_file.tex" -o "output_file.docx"
• Convert Latex to Markdown: pandoc -s "input_file.tex" -o "output_file.md"

Convert other formats to PDF

Alternative way: no pandoc

• Faster to use the extension on VScode: Markdown PDF
• Rewrite markdown-pdf.css to Settings.json, more details see vscode-markdown-pdf /styles
• Here I download markdown-pdf.css and rewrite it to my markdown-pdf.css

body {
  font-family: "Calibri", "Times New Roman", "Arial", "KaiTi", "Microsoft Yahei",
    sans-serif;
  padding: 0 12px;
}

pre {
  background-color: #f8f8f8;
  border: 1px solid #cccccc;
  border-radius: 3px;
  overflow-x: auto;
  white-space: pre-wrap;
  overflow-wrap: break-word;
}

pre:not(.hljs) {
  padding: 23px;
  line-height: 19px;
}

blockquote {
  background: rgba(127, 127, 127, 0.1);
  border-color: rgba(0, 122, 204, 0.5);
}

.emoji {
  height: 1.4em;
}

code {
  font-size: 12px;
  line-height: 19px;
}

/* for inline code */
:not(pre):not(.hljs) > code {
  color: rgb(212, 69, 69);
  font-size: inherit;
  font-family: "Calibri", "Times New Roman", "Arial", "KaiTi", "Microsoft Yahei",
    sans-serif;
  background-color: #f3f3f3;
  padding: 2px 4px;
  border-radius: 3px;
}

/* Page Break : use <div class="page"/> to insert page break
-------------------------------------------------------- */
.page {
  page-break-after: always;
}

Steps

Step 1. Install the latest pandoc

• See the above.

Step 2. Install a LaTeX distribution

• (Not recommended) Download the network install from the official website: TeX Live (it involves downloading and installing required files from the source server, which may take several hours).
• (Recommended) Download the pre-packaged installation image (*.iso) at once:
  
  • Enter 清华大学镜像站 and download texlive2024.iso
    
  • Open the downloaded ISO file and double-click install-tl-windows.bat to install.

Step 3. Find a valid Chinese font (if the document has Chinese)

• Run in cmd to see the available Chinese font: fc-list :lang=zh
  The font name follows the font file location. For example, C:/WINDOWS/Fonts/mingliu.ttc: MingLiU,細明體:style=Regular, font name is called MingLiU.
• Or download more fonts: Google Fonts / DaFont

Step 4. Set styling for the output pdf

• Download the head.tex into the same folder with your input.md to render document styles.

\usepackage{fancyvrb,newverbs}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage[top=2cm, bottom=1.5cm, left=2cm, right=2cm]{geometry}

% change background color for inline code
\definecolor{bgcolor}{HTML}{E0E0E0}
\let\oldtexttt\texttt
\renewcommand{\texttt}[1]{
  \colorbox{bgcolor}{\oldtexttt{#1}}
}

%% color and other settings for hyperref package
\hypersetup{
  bookmarksopen=true,
  linkcolor=blue,
  filecolor=magenta,
  urlcolor=RoyalBlue,
}

• Or download an existing LaTeX template: follow how to set up Latex template

Step 5. Run in cmd: pandoc "input_file.format" -o "input_file.format" --pdf-engine=xelatex -V mainfont='font_name'

• Convert Markdown to PDF using custom styling:
  pandoc README.md -o README.pdf --pdf-engine=xelatex -V CJKmainfont='PMingLiU' -V mainfont='Times New Roman' -H head.tex
• Convert Markdown to PDF using an existing template (Eisvogel is used here):
  pandoc README.md -o README.pdf --pdf-engine=xelatex -V CJKmainfont='PMingLiU' -V mainfont='Times New Roman' --from markdown --template eisvogel --listings

Reference

About TeX Live installation

• Pandoc with Chinese
• 安裝 TeX Live 镜像

About rendering styles in TeXLive

• Eisvogel: pandoc-latex-template
• customizing-pandoc