# Convert Word to Markdown for Obsidian

Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF files as Markdown notes in your vault, converted on your Mac.

## Steps

1. Press "Connect" beside Documents on Exporter's home, then "Choose Documents Folder", and choose the folder your Word files are in. Subfolders are included.
2. Choose a folder inside your vault for the Markdown, like `Vault/Documents`, and press "Use This Folder". It cannot be the documents folder or sit inside it.
3. Keep "Markdown" ticked on the `format` row.
4. Press "Sync Now". Each document becomes a note, in the same folder shape as your documents.
5. Open the vault in Obsidian. While Exporter runs, a document you save is converted again a few seconds later.

## What you get

```text
Vault/Documents/
  Work/
    Quarterly report.md
    Pitch deck.md
```

Each note starts with front matter that Obsidian shows as properties: `title`, `source` (the document's path), `format`, `modified`, and `pages` for a PDF. Word, PowerPoint, Excel, EPUB and PDF files are read. Scanned PDF pages are read by Apple's text recognition on your Mac, and nothing is uploaded.

## Pitfalls

- Pages, Numbers and Keynote files are not read. Export them to Word, PowerPoint, Excel or PDF first.
- Your 10 most recently modified documents convert free. The one-time unlock converts the rest.
- A password-protected or damaged document gets a red triangle on its row, with the reason.

The file types and fields are in [the Documents docs](https://exporter.dev/docs/documents).

## Related

- [Documents](https://exporter.dev/docs/documents): File types, scans, fields and fixes
- [Documents in Claude](https://exporter.dev/guides/documents/documents-in-claude): A folder of documents Claude can read
- [Documents](https://exporter.dev/documents): Word, slides, sheets and PDFs to Markdown

---

human version: https://exporter.dev/guides/documents/word-to-markdown-for-obsidian
every page: https://exporter.dev/llms.txt