Skill: markitdown

When to Use

Use this skill when the user asks to:

• Convert a document or file to Markdown
• Extract text/content from a PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or other document
• Parse a file into readable text
• Turn a file into Markdown format
• Read/extract content from images (OCR)
• Transcribe audio files to text
• Convert HTML pages to Markdown
• Process CSV, JSON, or XML files as Markdown
• Extract content from ZIP archives or EPub files

Supported Formats

Format	Extensions	Notes
PDF	.pdf	Text extraction with structure preservation
Word	.docx	Headings, lists, tables preserved
PowerPoint	.pptx	Slide content and notes
Excel	.xlsx	Tables converted to Markdown tables
Images	.jpg, .png, .gif, .webp, .bmp, .tiff	EXIF metadata; OCR if available
Audio	.mp3, .wav	EXIF metadata; transcription if available
HTML	.html, .htm	Full HTML-to-Markdown conversion
CSV	.csv	Converted to Markdown tables
JSON	.json	Structured as Markdown
XML	.xml	Structured as Markdown
ZIP	.zip	Iterates over archive contents
EPub	.epub	Book content extraction

Input Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description	Example
file_path	Yes	Path to the file to convert	/Users/me/Documents/report.pdf
output_path	No	Path to save the Markdown output. If omitted, outputs to stdout	./output.md

Procedure

1. Determine the file path from the user's request. If not provided, ask via ask_user.
2. Verify the file exists using bash or read_file.
3. Run the conversion script:

   python3 skills/markitdown/scripts/convert.py "{{file_path}}"
   

   Or save to a file:

   python3 skills/markitdown/scripts/convert.py "{{file_path}}" -o "{{output_path}}"
   

4. The script will auto-install markitdown[all] if not already available.
5. Present the Markdown output to the user, or confirm the output file was written.

Bundled Scripts

Script	Type	Description
scripts/convert.py	Python	Convert any supported file to Markdown using markitdown

Script Usage

# Convert and print to stdout
python3 skills/markitdown/scripts/convert.py "/path/to/document.pdf"

# Convert and save to file
python3 skills/markitdown/scripts/convert.py "/path/to/document.pdf" -o output.md

# Convert with verbose output (shows metadata)
python3 skills/markitdown/scripts/convert.py "/path/to/document.pdf" -v

Example

Example requests that trigger this skill:

convert this PDF to markdown
extract the text from report.docx
turn this spreadsheet into markdown
parse the content of presentation.pptx
convert ~/Downloads/invoice.pdf to markdown