PDF to Markdown for Obsidian

Obsidian is built on plain Markdown files in a folder. Drop a converted .md into your vault and it becomes a first-class note — searchable, linkable, graph-visible — instead of an opaque PDF attachment.

Why convert PDFs to Markdown for this?

Obsidian's superpower is the graph: every note can link to every other note, and Obsidian shows you the whole structure visually. PDFs in your vault don't participate. They sit in a folder; you can open them, but they don't link, don't show in the graph, and don't surface in searches. Converting a PDF to Markdown turns it into a node in your vault — its headings become outline entries, its bullet points become checkable items, and you can wikilink to any heading from any other note. Research papers, meeting notes saved as PDFs, slide decks exported from decks — they all become navigable instead of archival.

How to use t0md

Drop the PDF on t0md, click Download .md, drag the file into your Obsidian vault folder. Obsidian picks it up immediately. From there, add frontmatter for tags, organise it into folders, or `[[wikilink]]` to it from a hub note. For batch imports — say, a folder of research PDFs — repeat per file, or use the t0md HTTP API from a script to convert all of them at once.

Related guides

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep the original PDF as an attachment in the same note?

Yes. Drop both files into your vault — the .md becomes the note, and you can `![[file.pdf]]` the original at the bottom for reference. Best of both worlds: searchable text, original layout preserved.

Are wikilinks created automatically?

No — t0md emits standard CommonMark, no `[[wikilinks]]`. Headings become Markdown H2/H3 etc., which Obsidian respects natively. Add wikilinks yourself once the note is in the vault.

What about images in the PDF?

Image-only scanned PDFs aren't supported yet — OCR is on the roadmap. Text PDFs with embedded images give you the text; images are referenced but not extracted as separate files.