Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?

No. The text is read locally in your browser. Your file is never sent to Surmado's servers.

Will the Markdown match my PDF exactly?

No. The tool pulls out the text and adds basic structure like headings and lists. Tables flatten to text and images are dropped. It's built for feeding text to AI tools, not for matching the original layout.

Why convert a PDF to Markdown for AI?

Markdown is plain text, so a language model reads it directly. No OCR, no image processing, fewer tokens, and fewer mistakes than asking AI to interpret a PDF as a picture.

Does it work on scanned PDFs?

No. Scanned PDFs are images with no text layer, so there's nothing to pull out. You'd need to run OCR first, which this tool doesn't do. If the result comes back empty, your PDF is probably scanned.

Yes. No signup, no usage cap, no premium tier. Convert as many PDFs as you need.

Can I convert password-protected PDFs?

Encrypted PDFs need to be unlocked in the source application first. The tool reads PDFs locally and can't prompt for passwords.

PDF to Markdown

Turn PDFs into clean Markdown for AI tools. Convert one or a whole batch at once. The text stays in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

Your files stay on your device. No uploads. No tracking. No cookies.

Drop PDFs here

or click to browse. Add as many as you like. Text-based PDFs only.

How it works

PDF to Markdown reads the text layer of each PDF locally in your browser and rebuilds it as Markdown, marking headings and lists where it can. Convert one file or a whole batch at once: each result keeps its original name and downloads as a .md, or all of them together as a .zip. There's no server in the loop and no upload.

When to use this

Use it when you want to paste a document into ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI tool without handing over the original file or spending tokens on a raw PDF. Drop in a stack of reports and get a tidy set of Markdown files in one go. It works on text-based PDFs; scanned pages need OCR first.

Why this tool is different

A strict Content Security Policy on this page blocks outbound network requests. No analytics, no cookies, no upload. Your PDF stays on your device. Read why we built free tools that never touch your files.

Other free tools

Word to PDF Merge PDF

Built by Surmado

AI for small business. If you like how we think, check out what we're building.

Learn what we do →