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Converted to Markdown!
Turn a PDF into clean Markdown — headings and lists detected automatically. Ideal for AI tools, notes apps, and docs.
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Converted to Markdown!
Plain text extraction flattens a document into one undifferentiated block — headings, lists, and paragraphs all end up looking the same. Markdown keeps that structure using lightweight syntax (## for headings, - for lists) that both humans and AI tools can parse correctly.
This matters most when the output is going into somewhere that understands Markdown: pasting a document into ChatGPT or Claude, dropping notes into Obsidian or Notion, or committing docs into a GitHub repo's README.
Upload your PDF. PDFly reads each line's font size and compares it to the rest of the document — noticeably larger lines become headings, everything else stays as body text or list items. Review the result, then copy it or download it as a .md file. Your original PDF is never modified.
Heading detection is based on font size, so a PDF that uses the same size for everything (including its headings) will convert as plain paragraphs. Tables have no real structure in a PDF to begin with, so they often need manual cleanup into Markdown table syntax afterward. Scanned pages need OCR first, and password-protected files need to be unlocked first.
For the cleanest result, use text-based PDFs with clear visual hierarchy (larger, bolder headings), and skim the output before pasting it somewhere else.
Convert a PDF into structured Markdown — headings, lists, and paragraphs — instead of one flat block of plain text.
Useful for feeding documents into AI chat tools, importing into Markdown-based notes apps, and preparing docs for a GitHub README or static site.
Heading detection relies on font size, so PDFs with a clear visual hierarchy convert more accurately than documents that use one size throughout.
Explore the AI PDF tools for more related tools.
Why convert a PDF to Markdown instead of plain text?
Markdown keeps structure — headings, bullet lists, and paragraph breaks — instead of flattening everything into one block of text. That structure is exactly what AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, note-taking apps, and static site generators expect.
How are headings detected?
PDFly looks at the font size of each line relative to the rest of the document. Lines set in a noticeably larger size are treated as headings (## or ###); everything else is kept as body text.
Will tables convert correctly?
Simple tables sometimes convert reasonably well, but complex multi-column tables often need manual cleanup afterward, since PDF has no real concept of table structure to begin with.
Can I use the output with ChatGPT or Claude?
Yes — that's one of the most common uses. Clean Markdown is easier for AI models to parse accurately than raw PDF text, especially for long or structured documents.
Will my original PDF be modified?
No. Your original document remains unchanged. PDFly creates a separate .md file while preserving the source PDF.
Can I convert scanned PDFs to Markdown?
Scanned pages have no selectable text layer, so run OCR PDF first, then convert the result to Markdown.
Can I use PDF to Markdown on my phone?
Yes. The tool works in modern mobile browsers on Android, iPhone, and tablets without requiring an app.
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