Convert Markdown to PDF — turn your notes into shareable documents
Drop a .md file below and get a clean multi-page PDF back. Uses marked, html2canvas, and pdf-lib. Tables, code blocks, and lists are all rendered nicely.
Your file is processed entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Markdown is how most modern writing workflows start — notes, essays, technical documentation, blog drafts, README files, conference papers. It is the format of text editors and version control, fast to write and diff-friendly. But when you need to share your Markdown with someone who does not have a Markdown viewer, you need to render it as a document. PDF is the universal choice: it locks in the rendered appearance, preserves the layout, and can be read on literally any device.
This converter parses your Markdown with marked (GitHub-flavored mode), renders the resulting HTML inside a hidden A4-width container with a small stylesheet, captures it with html2canvas, and packages the captured pages into a multi-page PDF via pdf-lib. The result is a polished PDF with headings, lists, tables, and code blocks rendered cleanly. Your Markdown never leaves your device — everything runs locally in your browser. It is the fastest way to turn a .md file into something you can email, print, or upload to a portal.
How to convert Markdown to PDF in 4 steps
- 1
Select your Markdown file
Drop the .md or .markdown file into the dropzone or click to browse.
- 2
Let marked parse it to HTML
The marked library parses GFM Markdown into structured HTML — headings, lists, tables, code blocks, links, and inline styles.
- 3
Render and capture as PDF pages
The HTML is rendered in a hidden A4-width container, captured by html2canvas, sliced into page-sized chunks, and assembled into a PDF via pdf-lib.
- 4
Download the PDF
Save the PDF to your device. Your .md file is untouched and nothing has been uploaded.
Markdown vs PDF: source versus finished product
Markdown is a source format — it is what you write as an author, optimized for speed, version control, and diff readability. PDF is a finished-product format — it is what you hand to a reader, optimized for visual fidelity and universal distribution. Converting Markdown to PDF is the natural end of a writing workflow: you draft in Markdown, you render to PDF, you ship the PDF. The source .md file remains editable and diff-friendly in your repo, while the PDF gets shared, printed, archived, or submitted. Each format plays the role it is best at.
When should you convert Markdown to PDF?
Submitting an academic or technical essay
Courses and journals typically accept PDF submissions. Converting your Markdown draft to PDF gives you a submission-ready file without opening Word.
Sharing meeting notes or technical docs
A PDF looks more polished than a raw .md file when shared with stakeholders. Convert once, email the PDF, done.
Archiving documentation for offline reading
Markdown documentation is great for the web but not always readable offline. A PDF archive works without any tool beyond a PDF viewer.
Turning a README into a printed reference
If you want a hard copy of your project README for an onboarding binder or a desk reference, converting to PDF and printing is the simplest path.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the text in the PDF selectable?
- The text is rendered via html2canvas, which rasterizes the HTML to an image. That image is then embedded into the PDF. As a result, text in the PDF is NOT selectable — it is an image of text. If text selectability matters, use a different tool or print to PDF directly from your browser.
- Are code blocks highlighted?
- Code blocks are rendered with a light gray background and a monospace font, which is visually clear but not syntax-highlighted. For highlighted code, you would need to pre-process the Markdown with a syntax highlighter before conversion.
- Do tables render correctly?
- Yes. GFM-style tables with pipe syntax are rendered as HTML tables with borders, which carry over into the PDF. Large or wide tables may be cropped if they exceed the A4 page width.
- What about images in the Markdown?
- Image references in Markdown () are followed if the URLs are publicly accessible and CORS-friendly. Cross-origin images that block CORS may not render in the final PDF.
- Is my Markdown uploaded?
- No. The entire pipeline — marked parsing, html2canvas rendering, pdf-lib PDF assembly — runs in your browser. Your file is read locally and the PDF is produced locally. Nothing is ever uploaded or logged.