MarkItDown

Important

MarkItDown 0.0.2 alpha 1 (0.0.2a1) introduces a plugin-based architecture. As much as was possible, command-line and Python interfaces have remained the same as 0.0.1a3 to support backward compatibility. Please report any issues you encounter. Some interface changes may yet occur as we continue to refine MarkItDown to a first non-alpha release.

MarkItDown is a utility for converting various files to Markdown (e.g., for indexing, text analysis, etc). It supports:

• PDF
• PowerPoint
• Word
• Excel
• Images (EXIF metadata and OCR)
• Audio (EXIF metadata and speech transcription)
• HTML
• Text-based formats (CSV, JSON, XML)
• ZIP files (iterates over contents)
• ... and more!

To install MarkItDown, use pip: pip install markitdown. Alternatively, you can install it from the source:

git clone [email protected]:microsoft/markitdown.git
cd markitdown
pip install -e packages/markitdown

Usage

Command-Line

markitdown path-to-file.pdf > document.md

Or use -o to specify the output file:

markitdown path-to-file.pdf -o document.md

You can also pipe content:

cat path-to-file.pdf | markitdown

Plugins

MarkItDown also supports 3rd-party plugins. Plugins are disabled by default. To list installed plugins:

markitdown --list-plugins

To enable plugins use:

markitdown --use-plugins path-to-file.pdf

To find available plugins, search GitHub for the hashtag #markitdown-plugin. To develop a plugin, see packages/markitdown-sample-plugin.

Azure Document Intelligence

To use Microsoft Document Intelligence for conversion:

markitdown path-to-file.pdf -o document.md -d -e "<document_intelligence_endpoint>"

More information about how to set up an Azure Document Intelligence Resource can be found here

Python API

Basic usage in Python:

from markitdown import MarkItDown

md = MarkItDown(enable_plugins=False) # Set to True to enable plugins
result = md.convert("test.xlsx")
print(result.text_content)

Document Intelligence conversion in Python:

from markitdown import MarkItDown

md = MarkItDown(docintel_endpoint="<document_intelligence_endpoint>")
result = md.convert("test.pdf")
print(result.text_content)

To use Large Language Models for image descriptions, provide llm_client and llm_model:

from markitdown import MarkItDown
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI()
md = MarkItDown(llm_client=client, llm_model="gpt-4o")
result = md.convert("example.jpg")
print(result.text_content)

Docker

docker build -t markitdown:latest .
docker run --rm -i markitdown:latest < ~/your-file.pdf > output.md

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.

How to Contribute

You can help by looking at issues or helping review PRs. Any issue or PR is welcome, but we have also marked some as 'open for contribution' and 'open for reviewing' to help facilitate community contributions. These are ofcourse just suggestions and you are welcome to contribute in any way you like.

	All	Especially Needs Help from Community
Issues	All Issues	Issues open for contribution
PRs	All PRs	PRs open for reviewing

Running Tests and Checks

• Navigate to the MarkItDown package:

  cd packages/markitdown

• Install hatch in your environment and run tests:

  pip install hatch  # Other ways of installing hatch: https://hatch.pypa.io/dev/install/
  hatch shell
  hatch test

  (Alternative) Use the Devcontainer which has all the dependencies installed:

  # Reopen the project in Devcontainer and run:
  hatch test

• Run pre-commit checks before submitting a PR: pre-commit run --all-files

Contributing 3rd-party Plugins

You can also contribute by creating and sharing 3rd party plugins. See packages/markitdown-sample-plugin for more details.

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.