Markdown to DOCX
Markdown to DOCX here means a Word file from a paste or from one dropped .md /
.txt file. GitHub-flavored tables become Word tables. Task lists become marked
items. Footnotes do not become Word footnotes. If the note already lives in a git repo and
you want a command, use Pandoc. If you want a preview and no install, use the box.
Free for single files. $4.99 once.
Paste Markdown to preview here.
Paste Markdown to preview here.
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Markdown to DOCX is a Word package, not a renamed note
The download is Office Open XML, the same .docx Word, Word Online, Google Docs,
and LibreOffice open. It is a zip of XML, built in your browser. The extension is
.docx because that is the package, not because we renamed a .md file.
Opening the result in a text editor shows a zip, not your headings as hash marks. Opening it
in Word shows heading styles, tables, and monospace fences.
Two other URLs on this site talk about Markdown and Word, and they are not this job. Markdown to Word is the general converter: why a stakeholder still wants Word, and how Mermaid and math fit the same paste. Convert Markdown to Word is the short map of what the file contains when the note was never a chat. This page is the format contract and the support table. It is where you check a feature before you promise it to someone, and where you decide that Pandoc owns the repository file instead.
A ChatGPT answer is Markdown too, but the copy steps and the “why not paste straight into
Word” story belong on ChatGPT to DOCX and the
export guide. Stay here when the source is a
README, an Obsidian note you pasted, or a .md file on disk. The engine does not
change. The questions do.
Pandoc, and when this page is the wrong tool
Pandoc reads a file and writes a .docx. A typical command is
pandoc notes.md -o notes.docx. You can pass a reference document so styles match
a template you already maintain. You can turn on citations and footnotes. You can run it in
CI every time the Markdown changes. That is the correct afternoon when the source of truth is
the repository and the output must be repeatable without a person at a browser.
Pandoc will not, by itself, turn a Mermaid fence into a picture. You add a filter for that. Whether equations become Word equation objects depends on the Pandoc you installed. This page does not copy Pandoc’s manual and does not claim a faster conversion, a smaller file, or a better style map. Those comparisons need the two files side by side on your machine.
Use the converter above when the Markdown is in a chat box, an email, or a single note, and
you want to see the structure before anything is written to disk. Mermaid becomes a PNG in
the .docx when the diagram renders in the browser, and stays as code plus an
explicit note when it does not. LaTeX this parser accepts becomes OMML, with a labeled
fallback when it does not. There is no reference-document slot. Font, size, and margins are
the Setup controls. A header and footer you type yourself are the Pro brand controls, not a
.dotx. Several .md files in one action are the batch ZIP on
Pricing, which is a zip of .docx files, still without
Pandoc’s citation resolver.
| Pandoc | This page | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | A file path you pass to a command | A paste, or one dropped .md / .txt |
| Install | Pandoc on the machine or in CI | A browser. No install. |
| Preview | Open the .docx after the command | Live preview before download |
| Styles | A reference.docx if you pass one | Built-in heading styles, plus Setup font, size, and margins |
| Footnotes and citations | Available when you enable them | Not converted. The characters remain. |
| Mermaid | A filter you add | PNG when the browser render succeeds |
| Where the bytes are built | On the machine running Pandoc | In the browser. The note is not uploaded to convert. |
GFM tables, task lists, and footnotes
The table below is the support list for the constructs people mean by “GitHub-flavored
Markdown” when they ask for a .docx. “Yes” means the Word file contains the
object described. “No” means the characters are kept or ignored as stated, and you should not
tell a reviewer the feature arrived. Nothing here is a roadmap.
| Markdown | In the .docx |
|---|---|
| Headings, one to six levels | Yes. Word heading styles. |
Bold, italic, strikethrough (~~) | Yes. |
| Inline code | Yes. Monospace, and not passed through typographic replacements. |
| Links, including a bare http(s) URL | Yes, as a hyperlink when the scheme is http, https, or mailto. |
| Bullet, numbered, and nested lists | Yes. |
Task list - [ ] / - [x] | Yes, as a list item prefixed with ☐ or ☑. Not a clickable Word checkbox. |
| Pipe table with a header separator | Yes. A Word table. Alignment follows :---, :---:, and ---:. Columns share the width. The header row is shaded. |
| Table without a header row, or a merged cell | No. Headerless tables and rowspan are off. |
| Several paragraphs, or an HTML break, inside one cell | No. A cell is one paragraph. Raw HTML is not interpreted, so a break tag is text. |
| Fenced code, with an optional language tag | Yes. Monospace lines, indentation kept, language label when present. No syntax-color theme in the file. |
| Mermaid fence | Yes, as a PNG when the diagram renders. Otherwise the fence plus an explicit note. |
LaTeX in $, $$, \( \), or \[ \], and a dirty wrapper recognized as math | Yes, as an editable equation when parsing succeeds. Otherwise an explicit label, not a blank. |
Footnote [^1] and its definition | No. Both stay as ordinary paragraphs. They are not Word footnote fields. |
==highlight== | No. The equal signs stay. Word highlight is applied later, in Word. |
Wiki link [[note]] | No. Not a hyperlink. Rewrite it as a normal link if the reader must click. |
Remote image  | Embedded when the browser can fetch JPEG, PNG, GIF, or BMP up to 2,000,000 bytes within eight seconds. Otherwise alt text and the link. |
| Block quote | Yes, as an indented paragraph with a left border. An Obsidian callout label stays text on that quote. |
| A line that is only dashes | A horizontal rule, drawn as a bottom border. |
| Raw HTML | Not rendered. Tags are text. Scripts are not run. |
Task lists are the row people misread. The Markdown - [x] Ship the note is a real
list item in Word, and the ballot box is visible. It is not a legacy form field and not a
content control. A reviewer can see that the item was checked when you converted. They cannot
click the box to change your source. If the .docx is a form people will tick,
build the controls in Word after download. The character is only a record of the Markdown.
Footnotes are the row that fails closed. A line like “see the study[^1]” plus a definition
“[^1]: Author, year” does not create a footnote reference, a footnote separator, or a
footnote body. Both lines are normal paragraphs. The characters [^1] remain.
Journals that require footnotes need those fields created in Word, or they need Pandoc with
footnotes enabled, from a source that actually uses a footnote syntax Pandoc understands.
Do not promise a reviewer that this download numbered their notes.
Tables fail closed on purpose in two places. A grid that omits the header separator is not
promoted to a table, because headerless mode is off. A cell that tries to span two rows is
not merged, because rowspan is off. Multiline cells are accepted by the table parser as a
concept and then stored as one paragraph. If a cell’s meaning depends on a line break, split
the cell into two rows, or accept one paragraph. Alignment is the part that does work, and it
is worth using: a numeric column marked ---: is right-aligned in Word, which is
the difference between a table you can scan and a table you retype.
Punctuation, front matter, and characters we change
The parser’s typographer option is on. In an ordinary paragraph, straight double quotes can
become curly quotes, two hyphens can become an en dash, three dots can become an ellipsis,
and the letters (c) can become ©. That is the string you will read in Word, not
a bug in the zip. Inline code and fenced code skip those replacements, so a code sample that
must contain a straight quote and a double hyphen should be in a fence. If a paragraph must
keep the typed characters for a reason other than code, this converter is the wrong pass.
Pandoc’s smart punctuation is its own switch. Turn it off there if you use Pandoc. There is
no switch for it here.
A single newline inside a paragraph does not become a line break. A blank line starts a new paragraph. That is CommonMark, and it surprises people who pasted from a editor that shows soft wraps as breaks. Put a blank line where you want a new Word paragraph.
YAML between dashed lines is not metadata to us. A leading line of three dashes becomes a horizontal rule. A later line of three dashes under a line of text can be read as a setext heading, so “title: Notes” followed by dashes can show up as a Heading 2. Delete the front matter when the Word file should open on the first real heading. Keep it only when you intend the reader to see those lines. The same constraint is on Obsidian to Word, which also covers callouts, embeds, and the fact that this site does not open your vault.
Right-to-left paragraphs follow the first strong letter, including in a note that is not a chat. Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu paragraphs are bidirectional and right-aligned. English paragraphs stay left-to-right. Code fences and equation paragraphs are excluded, and inline code inside a right-to-left paragraph stays left-to-right. A table with a right-to-left cell is visually right-to-left. The rule is the same one stated on ChatGPT to DOCX. A Markdown note does not get a second, quieter rule.
Code, math, and diagrams inside the same file
Fences, equations, and diagrams are supported, and they are not the reason this URL exists.
They are here so the support table is not a trap. A fence keeps every line, in Consolas, with
a language label when you wrote one after the opening backticks. The preview may tint keywords
for JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, or shell. The .docx does not. Do not describe
the file as syntax-highlighted. The code-specific page for a ChatGPT fence is
ChatGPT code to Word. The behavior of the fence is the same
for a README.
Math delimiters the converter already accepts become an equation object on download. The
preview shows the source in italic so you can see the span that was recognized. A print of
that preview is not the equation. If someone asked for a PDF of the note, download the
.docx and use Word’s Save as PDF, which draws the equation. The print-dialog
limits are on ChatGPT to PDF even when the source was a README
rather than a chat. Unparsed math stays with the label
[Math — could not convert: …]. The delimiter guide is
LaTeX to Word.
A Mermaid fence is a diagram only after it renders. Success embeds a PNG. Failure leaves the source and a note that names the failure. There is no silent skip. See Mermaid to Word. An image that is only a relative vault path, or an Obsidian embed, is not fetched, because this page cannot see the vault. Use a normal Markdown image with an https URL when the picture must be in the package, and expect the fetch limits in the table above.
Steps
- Remove YAML front matter and any footnote block you do not want as visible paragraphs.
- Paste the Markdown, or drop one
.mdor.txtfile, into the converter. - Check the preview: heading levels, the header row of each table, and ☐ / ☑ on task items.
- Click Download .docx. Open it in Word and confirm a heading style, a table cell, and, if you had math, an equation object rather than a line of backslashes.
- Add Word footnotes, highlight, and a template only after that open. They are not in the package.
An empty box does not download. The status line asks you to paste first. A file larger than the paste limit is refused with the limit stated in the error, rather than a partial document. The free tier is 2 exports per day per browser. Each download, copy, HTML export, and PDF print counts as one. Pro is a one-time $4.99 payment. It removes the daily limit and adds batch ZIP and brand header/footer text. It does not add the rows marked “No” in the table. Pricing states that offer. The note is not uploaded either way. See Privacy.
Where Markdown to DOCX differs from the other Markdown pages
Markdown to Word can send you to Mermaid, math, Obsidian, and the model-specific copy pages. Read it when you are still choosing whether Word is the destination. Convert Markdown to Word is a short list of the objects in the file, for a note that was never a chat, without the Pandoc decision and without this support table. Markdown转Word is the same converter in Chinese. Use Markdown to DOCX when the question is the package: which GitHub-flavored constructs are real Word objects, which ones you must finish in Word, and when Pandoc should run instead of the browser.
The Chinese page and this page are not translations of each other. Do not expect this English
support table to appear there, and do not expect a footnote feature to appear on either.
Linking them is enough. If the note is an Obsidian export, start from the Obsidian page for
callouts and embeds, then return here for the table of what the .docx will and
will not contain.
Related guides
- Markdown to Word — the general converter.
- Convert Markdown to Word — the short object list.
- Obsidian to Word — callouts, wiki-links, and what a vault embed does not do.
- ChatGPT to DOCX — the same package when the paste came from a chat.
- Tables, code, math, and Mermaid.
- FAQ.
Markdown file FAQ
Tables, task lists, footnotes, Pandoc, and punctuation the parser rewrites.
Is a dropped .md file converted differently from a paste?
No. A .md or .txt drop and a paste run the same converter and produce the same kind of .docx.
Do GitHub-flavored tables become Word tables?
Yes, when the table has a header separator row. :--- is left, :---: is center, and ---: is right. Header cells are shaded. Columns share the width equally. Cells are not merged, a table without a header row is not built, and one cell is one paragraph.
Do task lists become Word checkboxes?
They become list items that start with ☐ or ☑. That is a character, not a content control. Ticking it in Word does not update the character.
Are Markdown footnotes Word footnotes?
No. This parser has no footnote syntax. [^1] and the definition line stay as ordinary text. Add a real footnote in Word if you need one.
Should I use Pandoc instead?
Use Pandoc when the Markdown is in a repository and you want a repeatable command, a reference document, or footnotes and citations. Use this page when you have a paste or one dropped file and you want a preview in the browser, with no install. Pandoc does not render Mermaid unless you add a filter. This converter embeds a PNG when the diagram renders.
Does typographic punctuation change my prose?
Yes, in ordinary paragraphs. Straight double quotes can become curly quotes, a double hyphen can become an en dash, three dots can become an ellipsis, and (c) can become ©. Text inside inline code or a fence is not passed through those replacements.
Is the Markdown uploaded?
No. The .docx is built in the browser. The free tier is 2 exports per day per browser. Pro is $4.99 once and removes that limit. It also adds batch ZIP and brand header/footer text. It does not add footnotes or a different table engine.