How to convert Word documents to Markdown
Published:
If your notes, specs and manuals live in Word but you’d like to manage them in Obsidian, a GitHub wiki or a documentation site, Markdown is the way to go: plain text that opens anywhere and works beautifully with version control.
How to convert
- Drop your
.docxfile into the DOCX to Markdown converter. - Click Convert and download the
.mdfile. - Put it in your Obsidian vault or Git repository.
Conversion happens in your browser, so internal documents never leave your computer.
What becomes what
| Word | Markdown |
|---|---|
| Heading 1, Heading 2 … styles | #, ## … |
| Bold, italic, strikethrough | **bold**, *italic*, ~~strike~~ |
| Bulleted and numbered lists | - item, 1. item |
| Hyperlinks | [text](url) |
| Tables | GitHub-flavoured tables (` |
| Footnotes | Numbered references plus a list of notes at the end |
| Images | Left out (see below) |
Prepare your Word document for a clean result
Use real heading styles
A line you made big and bold by hand only looks like a heading; structurally it’s a normal paragraph, and it stays one in Markdown. Before converting, select each heading and apply Home → Styles → Heading 1 / Heading 2. If headings appear in Word’s Navigation Pane, you’re set.
Use real lists
Lines where you typed - or 1. yourself are plain text, not lists. Word’s bullet and numbering buttons produce proper Markdown lists, and pressing Tab on an item creates a nested list.
Keep tables simple
Markdown tables don’t support merged cells, so complex tables may need touching up afterwards. The first row becomes the header row.
What about images?
A single Markdown file can’t contain image files, so images are left out. If they matter:
- Convert with DOCX to HTML instead — you get one web page with the images embedded.
- Or save the images from Word yourself and reference them in Markdown as
.
Tips for Obsidian, GitHub and Notion
- Obsidian: drop the
.mdfile into your vault. Headings appear in the outline, and you can link it to other notes with[[links]]. - GitHub: tables and lists render as-is. Rename the file
README.mdto use it as a repository’s front page. - Notion: use Notion’s Import feature and choose Markdown.
Going back to Word
Need to hand a Markdown document back as Word? Use Markdown to DOCX: headings become Word heading styles and lists become real Word numbering. New to the syntax? See Markdown basics.
Summary
Apply heading styles and real lists in Word before converting and the Markdown comes out clean. Images are left out, so use the HTML converter when you need them.