# markitdown

A skill that teaches the agent to use Microsoft MarkItDown, turning PDFs, Office files, images and URLs into Markdown for LLM context.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1600 installs · ★ 14
- Author: julianobarbosa
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/markitdown/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-14
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/julianobarbosa-markitdown

## What it does

This skill is a guide for the agent on Microsoft MarkItDown, a Python utility that converts files to Markdown. It covers the supported formats: PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX and XLS, images with EXIF and OCR, WAV and MP3 audio, HTML, YouTube URLs, Wikipedia pages, RSS feeds, CSV, JSON, XML, Jupyter notebooks, ZIP archives, EPub and Outlook MSG files. Headings, lists, tables and links survive the conversion.

Install with `pip install 'markitdown[all]'`, or pick narrower extras like `[pdf,docx,pptx]`. From there you either run the CLI (`markitdown document.pdf -o output.md`) or use the Python API with the `MarkItDown` class and its `convert` method. The skill ships recipes for batch-converting a directory, preparing LLM context, pulling a YouTube transcript, running OCR with an LLM description, parsing notebooks and reading RSS.

Python 3.10 or newer is required, and the author recommends a virtual environment. OCR and audio transcription need their own extras, and complex PDFs can go through Azure Document Intelligence, which wants an endpoint and key in environment variables. A `ModuleNotFoundError` during conversion usually means the extra for that format is missing. Plugins (`markitdown --list-plugins`) and the `markitdown-mcp` MCP server get their own sections.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --skill markitdown -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/markitdown/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/markitdown/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --skill markitdown -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/markitdown/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --skill markitdown -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/markitdown/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills markitdown
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/markitdown/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --skill markitdown -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --path skills/markitdown
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/markitdown/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills --skill markitdown -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/markitdown/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- turn a folder of PDFs and DOCX files into Markdown for model context
- pull text out of scans and screenshots with OCR
- grab a YouTube transcript without leaving the terminal
- read an Excel sheet or Jupyter notebook as plain text
- prep documents for an LLM preprocessing pipeline

## Example prompts
- Convert report.pdf to Markdown and save it next to the original
- Run every file in the documents folder through markitdown and write the results to markdown
- Pull the transcript from this YouTube link and show me the first paragraphs

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: c4adbb660f55238e.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE c4adbb660f55238e
````text
---
name: markitdown
description: Guide for using Microsoft MarkItDown - a Python utility for converting files to Markdown. Use when converting PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, images, audio, HTML, CSV, JSON, XML, ZIP, YouTube URLs, EPubs, Jupyter notebooks, RSS feeds, or Wikipedia pages to Markdown format. Also use for document processing pipelines, LLM preprocessing, or text extraction tasks.
---

# MarkItDown Skill

Microsoft's Python utility for converting various file formats to Markdown
for LLM and text analysis pipelines.

## Overview

MarkItDown converts documents while preserving structure (headings, lists,
tables, links). It's optimized for LLM consumption rather than
human-readable output.

### Supported Formats

| Category | Formats |
|----------|---------|
| Documents | PDF, Word (DOCX), PowerPoint (PPTX), Excel (XLSX, XLS) |
| Media | Images (EXIF + OCR), Audio (WAV, MP3 transcription) |
| Web | HTML, YouTube URLs, Wikipedia, RSS/Atom feeds |
| Data | CSV, JSON, XML, Jupyter notebooks (.ipynb) |
| Archives | ZIP (iterates contents), EPub |
| Email | Outlook MSG files |

## Quick Start

### Installation

```bash
# Full installation (recommended)
pip install 'markitdown[all]'

# Minimal with specific formats
pip install 'markitdown[pdf,docx,pptx]'

# Using uv
uv pip install 'markitdown[all]'
```

#### Optional Dependencies

| Extra | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `[all]` | All optional dependencies |
| `[pdf]` | PDF file support |
| `[docx]` | Word documents |
| `[pptx]` | PowerPoint presentations |
| `[xlsx]` | Excel spreadsheets |
| `[xls]` | Legacy Excel files |
| `[outlook]` | Outlook MSG files |
| `[az-doc-intel]` | Azure Document Intelligence |
| `[audio-transcription]` | WAV/MP3 transcription |
| `[youtube-transcription]` | YouTube video transcripts |

### Command-Line Usage

```bash
# Basic conversion
markitdown document.pdf > output.md

# Specify output file
markitdown document.pdf -o output.md

# Pipe input
cat document.pdf | markitdown > output.md

# With Azure Document Intelligence
markitdown document.pdf -o output.md -d -e "<endpoint>"
```

### Python API

```python
from markitdown import MarkItDown

# Basic conversion
md = MarkItDown()
result = md.convert("document.xlsx")
print(result.text_content)

# With LLM for image descriptions
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI()
md = MarkItDown(
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE c4adbb660f55238e

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the c4adbb660f55238e tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2367 of 8001 bytes. © julianobarbosa · MIT · https://github.com/julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/markitdown/SKILL.md

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---
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