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Convert PDF Documents to Markdown

Extract the selectable text layer from any .pdf into clean Markdown, directly in your browser using Mozilla's pdf.js. Processing runs in a Web Worker — the interface stays responsive on large files, and nothing is ever uploaded.

PDF conversion extracts text only

Tables, multi-column layouts, and exact visual positioning are not reconstructed — only the selectable text layer is extracted. Scanned or image-only PDFs contain no text and will yield little or nothing (no OCR is performed).

Processing happens 100% in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

100% Local Processing — Your files never leave your device

How to convert a PDF to Markdown

  1. Upload: drop your .pdf file onto the dropzone, or click to browse.
  2. Process: pdf.js extracts the text layer page by page inside a Web Worker — watch the live progress counter.
  3. Download: copy the Markdown to your clipboard or save it as a .md file.

Why Convert PDF to MD with MarkdownForge?

  • Clean, structured text output

    Each page is emitted as a Markdown section with reconstructed line breaks. Headings inferred from font size are promoted to ATX-style Markdown headings, giving you a document you can edit immediately.

  • 100% local — your PDF never leaves your device

    pdf.js runs entirely inside a browser Web Worker. No file is transmitted to any server, making this safe for confidential contracts, financial reports, and regulated documents.

  • Handles large PDFs without freezing the browser

    Pages are processed one at a time in a streaming loop. Memory is released after each page, so peak usage stays constant whether your PDF is 10 pages or 500.

PDF to Markdown — FAQ

Can it read scanned or image-only PDFs?

No. Scanned PDFs contain raster images, not selectable text, so no OCR is performed and they yield little or no output. You will see a warning when this happens.

What about password-protected PDFs?

Encrypted PDFs cannot be read without the password. Remove the protection first in your PDF viewer, then convert.

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

Never. All parsing happens locally via pdf.js in a Web Worker. Your document never leaves your device.

Are tables preserved in the Markdown output?

Not reliably. PDF has no semantic table structure — text is positioned on a canvas. The converter extracts raw text, so complex tables may appear as plain lines rather than Markdown pipe tables.

How large a PDF can I convert?

There is no hard size limit. Pages are streamed one at a time, so memory usage stays roughly constant. Very large files simply take longer to process.

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