Convert PDF To Md

Convert PDF to Markdown

Converts .pdf documents into Markdown folders with extracted embedded images, then reads the Markdown output to perform the requested analysis instead of attempting unreliable direct PDF parsing.

When to invoke

• "Read this PDF."
• "Summarize or analyze this report, paper, invoice, form, or contract."
• "Extract data or tables from this .pdf file."
• "Convert a folder of PDFs to Markdown."
• "Process this folder with .pdf, .docx, and .xlsx files."

Prerequisites and context

• The script supports .pdf only; MarkItDown has no legacy PDF-family format equivalent to .doc or .xls.
• Before first use in an environment, follow references/setup.md to ensure Python, pip, markitdown, and pymupdf are installed.
• The conversion script is scripts/convert_pdf_to_md.py.
• Always run the bundled script first; do not parse PDF content directly or write ad-hoc extraction code.
• After conversion, read the generated .md files to perform the requested analysis.

Procedure

1. Resolve the source path. If the file path cannot be fully resolved, use ask_user or the host's confirmation mechanism to obtain the full absolute path before conversion.
2. If the source is a folder with mixed .pdf, .docx, and .xlsx files, invoke convert-pdf-to-md, convert-word-to-md, and convert-excel-to-md so no supported type is skipped.
3. Run scripts/convert_pdf_to_md.py on the file or folder.
4. Use default output next to the source unless the user explicitly provides an output path.
5. Use --recursive only when subfolders should be included.
6. Read the resulting Markdown and ## Extracted Images appendix before answering.

Conversion commands

python scripts\convert_pdf_to_md.py "C:\path\to\document.pdf"
python scripts\convert_pdf_to_md.py "C:\path\to\document.pdf" -o "C:\path\to\output_folder"
python scripts\convert_pdf_to_md.py "C:\path\to\folder"
python scripts\convert_pdf_to_md.py "C:\path\to\folder" --recursive
python scripts\convert_pdf_to_md.py "C:\path\to\folder" --recursive -o "C:\path\to\output_parent"

Use -o only when the user explicitly says where to save output, such as C:\output or D:\work. Do not choose -o based on the agent current working directory, session state folder, or implied location.

Output structure and limitations

Troubleshooting

Progressive disclosure and bundled resources

• references/setup.md: Python, pip, MarkItDown, and PyMuPDF setup.
• scripts/convert_pdf_to_md.py: deterministic PDF-to-Markdown conversion with embedded image extraction.
• scripts/requirements.txt: Python package requirements for the script.

Related primitives

PDF conversion invariants

IMPORTANT: the agent MUST convert before analysis because PDF is a layout/print format. Output is self-contained in <name>\, such as document\, document.md, and document\img\. Batch output can use -o "C:\path\to\output_parent" only when the user explicitly requests it.

Output template

### PDF to Markdown conversion result

**Status:** converted | partially converted | blocked
**Input:** `<file or folder>`
**Output:** `<name>/` or `<output_parent>/<name>/`
**Recursive:** yes | no

| PDF | Markdown output | Images extracted | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `<document.pdf>` | `<name>/<name>.md` | `<count or none>` | `<success, skipped, or failure reason>` |

**Next analysis performed**
- <summary, extraction, comparison, or user-requested analysis>

**Validation**
- `python scripts\convert_pdf_to_md.py ...`: pass | fail

Quality gate

• The bundled script scripts/convert_pdf_to_md.py was used before analysis.
• The input path was fully resolved; ambiguous paths were confirmed with ask_user or equivalent.
• Default output stayed next to the source unless the user explicitly requested -o.
• Mixed .pdf, .docx, and .xlsx sets invoked the sibling converters.
• Generated .md files and the ## Extracted Images appendix were considered before answering.
• Scanned PDFs without OCR text were reported honestly.
• Failures in batch mode were reported without hiding successful conversions.