About Word2MD - Free Word to Markdown Converter
Simple, Fast, and Privacy-Focused Document Conversion
Word2MD.net started as a developer's weekend project in 2023. Frustrated with clunky online converters that broke document formatting, we built a clean, browser-based tool that actually works. Three years later, thousands of users convert their Word documents to Markdown format daily using our free service.
Why We Built This Tool
Converting Word documents to Markdown shouldn't require installing software or signing up for subscriptions. We created Word2MD because we needed a reliable converter for our own technical documentation projects. What started as an internal tool became something we wanted to share with the developer community.
How Word2MD Evolved
What started as a quick hack to convert our GitHub README files has grown into a tool used by developers, technical writers, and content creators worldwide. Here's how we got here:
First Commit
Built the initial version using Mammoth.js to parse Word documents and Turndown to generate clean Markdown. No fancy UI, just a working converter.
Community Growth
Users started sharing the tool, requesting features like batch processing and table conversion. We added drag-and-drop, better error handling, and support for complex documents.
AI Features
Integrated OCR capabilities to handle documents with embedded images and diagrams. Now the tool can extract text from screenshots and convert them to readable Markdown.
Under the Hood
Word2MD runs entirely in your browser using proven open-source libraries:
Mammoth.js
Microsoft's own library for parsing .docx files, ensuring compatibility with all Word document features and versions
Turndown
Battle-tested HTML-to-Markdown converter used by major documentation platforms like GitLab and GitHub
Browser-Based OCR
Uses Tesseract.js for text extraction from images - no server uploads required, your documents stay private
Zero Server Processing
Everything happens locally in your browser. We never see your documents, and there are no file size limits imposed by server storage
Who We Are
Word2MD is maintained by a small team of developers who actually use the tool for our own projects. We're not a big corporation - just people who needed a better Word-to-Markdown converter.
Privacy by Design
We built Word2MD to work entirely in your browser because we care about your privacy. Your documents never touch our servers.
Keep It Simple
No registration, no subscriptions, no premium tiers. Just a tool that works when you need it.
User-Driven Development
Every feature we've added came from user feedback. GitHub issues turn into features, not just bug reports.
Looking Forward
Word2MD will always be free for basic document conversion. We've seen what happens when useful tools get acquired and monetized - that won't happen here. This tool serves the community, and the community helps it grow.