markitdown

name	markitdown
description	Convert documents (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images) to Markdown text for LLM processing

MarkItDown File Converter

You have access to the MarkItDown MCP tool (markitdown__convert_to_markdown) for converting files to Markdown.

When to use

Use this tool when:

• The user asks you to read, analyze, or summarize a document (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
• You need to extract text content from an image (OCR)
• The user shares a file path and wants you to understand its contents
• You are working with a file format that your text tools cannot directly read

Note: For images attached directly in chat, the system automatically handles conversion when your model doesn't support vision. This skill is for converting files on disk that you encounter during tasks.

Supported formats

MarkItDown supports 29+ file formats including:

• Documents: PDF, Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), Excel (.xlsx/.xls)
• Images: JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP (EXIF metadata + OCR)
• Web: HTML, XML
• Data: CSV, JSON
• Other: ZIP (iterates contents), EPUB, Outlook messages (.msg)

Usage

markitdown__convert_to_markdown({ uri: "file:///path/to/document.pdf" })

The tool accepts a file URI and returns the content converted to Markdown format.

Prerequisites

MarkItDown requires Python 3.10+ and the markitdown package:

pip install 'markitdown[all]'

Or install only specific format support:

pip install 'markitdown[pdf,docx,pptx]'

Best practices

1. Check file existence first: Verify the file path is valid before attempting conversion.
2. Large files: For very large documents, the converted markdown may be lengthy. Summarize key sections for the user rather than dumping everything.
3. Image OCR quality: OCR results depend on image clarity. Mention if text extraction seems incomplete.
4. Fallback: If conversion fails (e.g., markitdown not installed), inform the user and suggest installing with pip install 'markitdown[all]'.