---
name: markitdown
description: "Convert local documents to Markdown using Microsoft's markitdown CLI. Best for: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images (OCR), audio. Can fetch URLs but Jina is faster for web. Triggers on: convert to markdown, read PDF, parse document, extract text from, docx, xlsx, pptx, OCR image, local file."
license: MIT
compatibility: "Requires markitdown. Install: pip install markitdown"
allowed-tools: "Bash"
metadata:
  author: claude-mods
---

# markitdown - Document to Markdown

Convert local documents to clean Markdown. One tool for PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, and more.

## When to Use markitdown

| Use Case | Recommendation |
|----------|----------------|
| **Local files (PDF, Word, Excel)** | ✅ **Use markitdown** - unique capability |
| **Web pages** | ❌ Use Jina (`r.jina.ai/`) - 5x faster |
| **Blocked/anti-bot sites** | ❌ Use Firecrawl |
| **OCR on images** | ✅ **Use markitdown** |
| **Audio transcription** | ✅ **Use markitdown** |

## Basic Usage

```bash
# Local files (primary use case)
markitdown document.pdf
markitdown report.docx
markitdown data.xlsx
markitdown slides.pptx
markitdown screenshot.png    # OCR

# URLs (works, but Jina is faster)
markitdown https://example.com

# Save output
markitdown document.pdf > document.md
```

## Supported Formats

| Format | Extensions | Notes |
|--------|------------|-------|
| PDF | `.pdf` | Text extraction, tables |
| Word | `.docx` | Formatting preserved |
| Excel | `.xlsx` | Tables to markdown |
| PowerPoint | `.pptx` | Slides as sections |
| Images | `.jpg`, `.png` | OCR text extraction |
| HTML | `.html` | Clean conversion |
| Audio | `.mp3`, `.wav` | Speech-to-text |
| Text | `.txt`, `.csv`, `.json`, `.xml` | Pass-through/structure |
| URLs | `https://...` | Works but slower than Jina |

## Benchmarked Performance (URLs)

| Tool | Avg Speed | Success Rate |
|------|-----------|--------------|
| Jina | **0.5s** | 10/10 |
| markitdown | 2.5s | 9/10 |
| Firecrawl | 4.5s | 10/10 |

**Verdict**: For URLs, use Jina. For local files, markitdown is the only option.

## Examples

```bash
# PDF to markdown (primary use case)
markitdown report.pdf > report.md

# Excel spreadsheet
markitdown financials.xlsx

# Image with text (OCR)
markitdown screenshot.png

# PowerPoint deck
markitdown presentation.pptx > slides.md

# Audio transcription
markitdown meeting.mp3 > transcript.md
```

## Comparison with Alternatives

| Task | markitdown | Alternative |
|------|------------|-------------|
| PDF text | `markitdown file.pdf` | PyMuPDF, pdfplumber |
| Word docs | `markitdown file.docx` | python-docx |
| Excel | `markitdown file.xlsx` | pandas, openpyxl |
| OCR | `markitdown image.png` | Tesseract |
| Web pages | Use Jina instead | `r.jina.ai/URL` (5x faster) |

**markitdown's advantage**: One CLI for all local document formats. No code needed.
