---
name: "pdf123-pdf-to-markdown"
description: "Convert a PDF into Markdown. Runs the PDF123 \"PDF To Markdown\" tool (pdf123.xyz) over its REST API with curl, no account needed. Use when the user wants this done to their file. Also known as: PDF 转 Markdown, PDF a Markdown, PDF से Markdown, PDF إلى Markdown, PDF para Markdown, PDF ke Markdown, PDF vers Markdown, PDF в Markdown, PDFからMarkdown, PDF in Markdown, PDF를 Markdown으로, PDF sang Markdown, PDF'den Markdown'a, PDF 轉 Markdown, PDF เป็น Markdown, PDF na Markdown, PDF у Markdown, PDF naar Markdown, PDF till Markdown, PDF σε Markdown, PDF към Markdown, PDF kuwa Markdown."
compatibility: "Needs curl 7.76+ and outbound HTTPS to pdf123.xyz, or PDFX_API_BASE pointing at a self-hosted pdfx-server."
---

# PDF To Markdown (PDF123)

Convert a PDF into Markdown.

Web version: https://pdf123.xyz/pdf-to-markdown · All tools: https://pdf123.xyz/skills/pdf123.md

## When to use

- Move a PDF README into a Git repository
- Feed article text into a prompt pipeline
- Draft web copy from a PDF brief

## Run it

Replace the sample file names and values with the user's, then run:

```bash
API="${PDFX_API_BASE:-https://pdf123.xyz}"
curl -sS --fail-with-body -X POST "$API/api/v1/convert/pdf/markdown" \
  -F "fileInput=@input.pdf" \
  --output-dir "pdf123-output/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" --create-dirs -OJ -w '%{filename_effective} %{content_type}\n'
```

## Inputs

Everything is `multipart/form-data`. The command above already sends each field with its default; keep them all and change only the values the user asked for, since some endpoints reject a missing optional field.

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `fileInput` | file | yes | | .pdf (one file) |

## Result

curl saves the result in a new `pdf123-output/<timestamp>/` directory under the server's file name and prints its path and content type. Several output files come back as one ZIP. Tell the user where the file is.

## Limits

- No OCR; image-only pages extract little or nothing
- Layout fidelity is limited
- Complex tables may need hand fixes
- Upload limit on this website: 500 MB per file, sent in chunks above about 95 MB. A single direct API request body is capped at 100 MB.

## Errors

- A non-zero curl exit means the request failed. The saved file then holds `application/problem+json`; read it and report its `detail` to the user instead of retrying blindly.
- `413`: the upload exceeds 100 MiB. `429`: wait for `Retry-After` seconds, then retry once.
- Send `X-API-KEY: $PDFX_API_KEY` only if the user has a PDF123 API key; anonymous calls work without it.

## Privacy

Files are uploaded to the API host, processed, and deleted once the response is sent. For confidential files, ask before uploading, or use a self-hosted server via `PDFX_API_BASE`.