How to convert a PDF to Markdown in your browser
Updated
To convert a PDF to Markdown without uploading it, open the PDF in Chrome or Microsoft Edge, click the Pocketdown icon and press Clip as Markdown. Pocketdown reads the PDF's text layer inside your browser, rebuilds headings and paragraphs, and gives you a Markdown note. The file never leaves your computer, and it is free and unlimited.
Step by step
- Install Pocketdown. Add it from the Chrome Web Store.
- Open the PDF in your browser. Follow a link to a PDF, or drag a PDF file into a browser window (files on your computer need one setting — see below).
- Click the Pocketdown icon. The card is labelled PDF.
- Press Clip as Markdown. The Markdown is copied to your clipboard the first time; after that the button reuses how you delivered your last clip.
PDFs saved on your computer
Browsers only let extensions read files opened from your own disk (addresses that start with
file://) if you allow it. Open chrome://extensions (or
edge://extensions in Edge), choose Details under Pocketdown and
turn on Allow access to file URLs. PDFs opened from a website need nothing
extra.
What the Markdown looks like
Real output. Headings are recognised by type size, and lines that were broken to fit the
page are joined back into paragraphs. The properties include type: pdf and the
page count.
---
title: Remote Work Policy
source: https://example.com/files/remote-work-policy.pdf
site: example.com
clipped: 2026-09-26
type: pdf
pages: 1
---
# Remote Work Policy
### 1. Scope
This policy applies to all full-time employees who work from home for two or more days a week.
### 2. Equipment
The company provides a laptop and a monitor. Employees are responsible for a reliable internet connection.Limits worth knowing
- Scanned PDFs have no text to extract. A scan is a picture of a page, and Pocketdown doesn't do OCR, so there is nothing to convert.
- Complex layouts are approximate. Multi-column pages, tables and footnotes are rebuilt from where text sits on the page and may need tidying.
What leaves your browser
Nothing. The PDF is read and converted on your computer; it isn't uploaded to Pocketdown or to any conversion service.
Questions
Does Pocketdown upload my PDF?
No. The PDF is read and converted to Markdown inside your browser. It isn't uploaded to Pocketdown or to any conversion service.
Can it convert scanned PDFs?
No. A scanned PDF is an image of each page with no text layer, and Pocketdown doesn't do OCR, so there is no text to extract.
Why can't Pocketdown read a PDF from my computer?
Browsers block extensions from local files by default. In chrome://extensions, open Details for Pocketdown and turn on Allow access to file URLs.
Is PDF to Markdown conversion free?
Yes. Converting PDFs, pages and articles is free and unlimited, with no account.
More guides
- Save a YouTube transcript as Markdown — Captions to a timestamped transcript, including videos with no caption file.
- Save Bilibili subtitles as Markdown — Human-made and AI subtitles from 哔哩哔哩, with links back to each moment.
- Convert a web page to Markdown — The article without the ads and menus — or just a selection, or one element.
- Clip web pages into Obsidian — Straight into your vault as notes with properties, in the folder you choose.