Skip to content

DOCX & ODT to Markdown Converter

Drop a .docx or .odt file or click to browse

Conversion runs entirely in your browser — the document is never uploaded.

Estimates for educational purposes — not financial, medical, or legal advice. See terms.

This tool converts Word (.docx) and OpenDocument (.odt) files into Markdown, HTML, or plain text. It is built for writers and developers who need a document’s text in a format they can paste into a README, a static-site post, or a plain-text editor.

How it works

Both .docx and .odt are zip archives full of XML. The converter reads the document’s structure (headings, paragraphs, bold and italic runs, links, lists, and simple tables) and rebuilds it as HTML. From that HTML it produces your chosen output: Markdown via a structure-aware conversion, the HTML itself, or plain text with all markup stripped. Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice all export .docx, so a file from any of them works the same way.

Example: a Word report to Markdown

Drop a report.docx containing a title, two section headings, a bulleted list, and a few bold phrases. Pick Markdown. The output is report.md: the title becomes a # heading, the sections become ## headings, the list becomes - bullets, and the bold phrases wrap in **. Copy it straight into a GitHub README or a Jekyll post. The result panel also shows the word, line, and character counts so you can sanity-check that nothing was lost.

When to use it

Use this when you are moving content out of a word processor into a code-friendly format: drafting documentation in Word and publishing it as Markdown, pulling a client’s .odt into a static site, or grabbing the plain text of a document for a script. If your source is a scanned page or a screenshot rather than a document file, the image OCR tool extracts text from images instead.

Common mistakes

  • Expecting the layout to survive. This is a text-content converter, not a layout converter. The words, headings, lists, links, and tables come through; images, footnotes, page geometry, and visual design do not. When the converter has to simplify something, it tells you in the result panel.
  • Uploading the wrong file type. Old .doc and Apple .pages files fail with a clear message. Resave them as .docx in Word or LibreOffice first.
  • Treating Markdown as lossless. Coloured text, font choices, and deep nesting flatten to the nearest Markdown equivalent or vanish. When you need every styling detail, choose HTML output. The HTML is unindented source, so run it through the HTML formatter if you want it tidied.

Frequently asked questions

Can it convert old .doc files or Apple Pages documents?

No. It reads .docx (the modern Word format used by Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice) and .odt (OpenDocument). The pre-2007 .doc format is a different binary file, and Apple .pages uses a closed format no library can read reliably. Open either one in Word or LibreOffice and save or export it as .docx first, then convert.

Are images, footnotes, and comments kept?

No. This converts text content, not page layout. Headings, paragraphs, bold and italic text, links, lists, and simple tables come through. Images, headers and footers, footnotes, comments, and page geometry are dropped. If a document leans heavily on those, the output will be the words without the surrounding design.

When should I pick HTML output instead of Markdown?

Choose HTML when you want to paste formatted content straight into a CMS or web page, or when the document uses formatting Markdown cannot express. Markdown is the better choice for READMEs, static-site posts, and anywhere you want clean plain-text source. Plain text is for when you only need the words with no markup at all.