Office to Markdown Converter

What This Does

This workflow enables conversion from various Office formats to Markdown using markitdown - Microsoft's open-source tool for converting documents to Markdown. Perfect for making Office content searchable, version-controllable, and AI-friendly.

---

Quick Start

Step 1: Create a Project Folder

mkdir -p ~/Documents/OfficeToMd

Step 2: Download the Template

Click Download above, then:

mv ~/Downloads/CLAUDE.md ~/Documents/OfficeToMd/

Step 3: Start Working

cd ~/Documents/OfficeToMd
claude

---

How to Use

1. Provide the Office file (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, etc.)
2. Optionally specify conversion options
3. I'll convert it to clean Markdown

Example prompts:

• "Convert this Word document to Markdown"
• "Turn this PowerPoint into Markdown notes"
• "Extract content from this PDF as Markdown"
• "Convert this Excel file to Markdown tables"

Best Practices

1. Check Output Quality: Review converted Markdown for accuracy
2. Handle Tables: Complex tables may need manual adjustment
3. Preserve Structure: Use consistent heading levels in source docs
4. Image Handling: Consider using vision models for important images
5. Version Control: Store converted Markdown in Git for tracking

Examples

Example 1: Convert Documentation Suite

from markitdown import MarkItDown
from pathlib import Path

def convert_docs_to_wiki(docs_folder, wiki_folder):
    """Convert all Office docs to markdown wiki structure."""
    md = MarkItDown()
    docs_path = Path(docs_folder)
    wiki_path = Path(wiki_folder)
    
    # Create wiki structure
    wiki_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    
    # Create index
    index_content = "# Documentation Index\n\n"
    
    for doc in sorted(docs_path.glob('**/*.docx')):
        try:
            result = md.convert(str(doc))
            
            # Create relative path in wiki
            rel_path = doc.relative_to(docs_path)
            output_file = wiki_path / rel_path.with_suffix('.md')
            output_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
            
            # Write markdown
            with open(output_file, 'w') as f:
                f.write(result.text_content)
            
            # Add to index
            link = str(rel_path.with_suffix('.md')).replace('\\', '/')
            index_content += f"- [{doc.stem}]({link})\n"
            
            print(f"Converted: {doc.name}")
            
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Error: {doc.name} - {e}")
    
    # Write index
    with open(wiki_path / 'index.md', 'w') as f:
        f.write(index_content)

convert_docs_to_wiki('./company_docs', './wiki')

Example 2: Meeting Notes Processor

from markitdown import MarkItDown
import re
from datetime import datetime

def process_meeting_notes(pptx_path):
    """Extract and structure meeting notes from PowerPoint."""
    md = MarkItDown()
    result = md.convert(pptx_path)
    
    # Parse the markdown
    content = result.text_content
    
    # Extract sections
    sections = {
        'attendees': [],
        'agenda': [],
        'decisions': [],
        'action_items': []
    }
    
    current_section = None
    
    for line in content.split('\n'):
        line_lower = line.lower()
        
        if 'attendee' in line_lower or 'participant' in line_lower:
            current_section = 'attendees'
        elif 'agenda' in line_lower:
            current_section = 'agenda'
        elif 'decision' in line_lower:
            current_section = 'decisions'
        elif 'action' in line_lower:
            current_section = 'action_items'
        elif line.strip().startswith(('-', '*', '•')) and current_section:
            sections[current_section].append(line.strip()[1:].strip())
    
    # Generate structured output
    output = f"""# Meeting Notes

**Date:** {datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}
**Source:** {pptx_path}

Limitations

• Complex formatting may be simplified
• Images are not embedded (use vision model for descriptions)
• Some table structures may not convert perfectly
• Track changes in Word are not preserved
• Comments may not be extracted

Installation

pip install markitdown

# For image/audio processing
pip install markitdown[all]

# For specific features
pip install markitdown[images]  # Image OCR
pip install markitdown[audio]   # Audio transcription