Word to Markdown
Drop a .docx and get clean Markdown — headings, lists, tables, links and, if you want them, images. Free, and the document is converted in your browser, never uploaded.
Drop a Word .docx file here, or browse
Why convert Word documents to Markdown?
A .docx is a ZIP of XML files full of styling that only Word understands. Markdown is plain text with just enough structure: it goes into Git and shows a readable diff, publishes to static-site generators and wikis, and it is the format language models read best — see why LLMs prefer Markdown. Converting a handbook, a spec or a set of meeting notes once gives you a version you can edit anywhere.
Getting a clean result
The converter follows the document's structure, so the better the Word file uses styles, the better the Markdown. Real Heading styles become # headings; real lists become Markdown lists; a Word table becomes a Markdown table whose first row is used as the header. Merged cells and tables nested inside tables have no Markdown equivalent, so those tables need a look after conversion.
From Markdown back out
Once the content is in Markdown, you can turn it into a PDF or a web page. For PDFs you received rather than wrote, go the other way with PDF to Markdown. The trade-offs between the three formats are in PDF vs Word vs Markdown.
Frequently asked questions
What survives the conversion?
Headings (when the document uses Word's Heading styles), bold, italic, strikethrough, links, bulleted and numbered lists, tables, footnotes and images. Fonts, colours, page layout, headers and footers are dropped — Markdown has no way to express them, and that is usually the point of converting.
My headings came out as bold text. Why?
Because in the Word file they are bold text: someone made them bigger and bolder by hand instead of applying the Heading 1 / Heading 2 styles. The converter reads structure, not appearance. Apply the heading styles in Word (or Google Docs), save, and convert again.
Does it work with old .doc files?
No — only .docx, the format Word has used since 2007. Open a .doc in Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs and save it as .docx first. The tool recognises a .doc and tells you so rather than failing silently.
What happens to images?
You choose. Leave them out for text-only uses such as ChatGPT or a wiki; save them to a folder, which downloads a ZIP with the .md file and an images/ folder referenced by relative links; or embed them in the Markdown itself as data URIs — one self-contained file, but a much larger one.
Is the document uploaded?
No. The .docx is unzipped and converted by code running in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, which matters for contracts, HR documents and anything under NDA.
What about Google Docs?
Either download it as .docx (File → Download → Microsoft Word) and drop it here, or select the content in Google Docs, copy it, and paste it into the HTML to Markdown converter, which reads the formatting from the clipboard.
Limitations
- .docx only; legacy .doc, .odt, .rtf and .pages files must be saved as .docx first.
- Headings are detected from Word's heading styles, not from font size.
- Merged table cells, text boxes, comments, tracked changes and equations are not converted.
- Password-protected documents cannot be opened.
Related tools
- HTML to MarkdownPaste HTML, a web page or a Google Doc — get Markdown.HTML, Clipboard → Markdown (.md)
- PDF to MarkdownClean Markdown from any PDF, with OCR for scanned pages.PDF → Markdown (.md)
- Markdown to PDFA clean PDF from Markdown — with diagrams, math and images.Markdown (.md) → PDF
- Markdown to HTMLClean, sanitised HTML from Markdown, with a live preview.Markdown (.md) → HTML
Guides
- How to Convert Word to Markdown (DOCX to MD) Without Losing StructureThree reliable ways to turn a Word document into clean Markdown, and how to prepare the .docx so headings, lists and tables survive.
- PDF vs Word vs Markdown - Which Format to Use WhenPDF vs Word vs Markdown compared on fidelity, editability, longevity and collaboration - with head-to-head tables and clear recommendations by scenario.
- Markdown Cheat Sheet PDF (Free Download)Free Markdown cheat sheet with every syntax element - headings, lists, links, tables, code - plus GFM extras. Download it as a printable PDF in one click.
- Why LLMs Read Markdown Better Than PDF (ChatGPT & Claude)PDF extraction throws away the structure your model needs. See what breaks, and why Markdown gets better answers out of ChatGPT and Claude.