Turn DOCX files into Markdown
Your DOCX goes in and a Markdown comes out. Markdown is a plain text file where a few simple marks stand in for headings, bold text, links and lists. Your file never leaves your computer.
How to convert DOCX to Markdown
- 1 Drop your DOCX .docx file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Check the options. Nothing is thrown away on the way to Markdown, so there is no quality dial to set.
- 3 Convert. The work happens on your own machine, so how long it takes depends on your computer and the file.
- 4 Download the Markdown, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert DOCX to Markdown
- Readable and editable as plain text with no special software.
- Diffs cleanly in version control, unlike binary document formats.
- Static site and blog content compiled to HTML at build time.
- DOCX: no browser displays it natively, so the web needs a conversion first.
DOCX compared with Markdown
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | DOCX | Markdown |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .docx | .md |
| Compression | Lossless | Uncompressed |
| Multiple pages | Yes | No |
| Colour depth | ZIP package of XML parts plus embedded media | UTF-8 plain text, parsed to an HTML document tree |
| Typical file size | Larger | Largest |
| Introduced | 2007 | 2004 |
| Developed by | Microsoft | John Gruber and Aaron Swartz |
Quality and what changes
Both sides are lossless, so every pixel survives the trip intact and converting back returns the same image. What changes is the size and what the file can carry: Markdown stores the data without compression, so expect a much larger file.
- DOCX files can be read here but not created, so conversions run one way only.
- A multi-page DOCX produces one Markdown per page.
- One Markdown limitation to keep in mind: no control over layout, page breaks or typography.
Questions about DOCX to Markdown
Can I open a Markdown in a browser?
No. No mainstream browser renders Markdown natively, so it will download rather than display. That is fine when the file is heading into desktop software or an archive, and a problem if it is going on a web page.
What happens to a multi-page DOCX?
Markdown holds one page, so each page becomes a separate file and you get the set as a ZIP. Nothing is discarded, it just cannot stay in a single document.
Is my DOCX file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your DOCX is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a Markdown. Nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is stored and there is no account.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no server-side limit because no server sees the file. The real ceiling is your device memory, since the input and the output both have to fit in the tab. A few hundred megabytes is usually fine on a desktop machine and considerably less on a phone.
Can I convert several DOCX files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate Markdown downloads or as a single ZIP. Speed depends on your own processor rather than on a queue.
Does the converter work offline?
Yes, after the page has loaded once. The engine is cached by the browser, so you can disconnect, reload and keep converting. That falls out of doing the work locally rather than being a separate mode you switch on.