Convert Word To Md
GitHubOfficialFirst committed by 1YaoWei0Distributed by GitHub
- Skill
- Tool integration
- Automation and integrations
- MIT
- Low risk
- Has scripts
AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
This skill provides a reliable way to convert Microsoft Word (.docx) files into Markdown format. Because .docx files are complex zipped XML structures, they cannot be read directly as plain text. This skill uses a dedicated script to perform the conversion, ensuring that content, structure, and embedded images are accurately extracted. It supports both single-file conversion and batch processing of entire folders, and it is designed to be used as a prerequisite for any task involving the analysis, summarization, or data extraction of Word documents.
What it does
- Converts .docx files into clean Markdown files.
- Extracts embedded images into a dedicated subfolder.
- Supports batch processing of folders with recursive options.
- Maintains document structure during the conversion process.
- Integrates with other file conversion skills for mixed-format folders.
When to use it
- When a user asks to read, summarize, or analyze a .docx file.
- When you need to extract data from a Word document, report, or contract.
- When processing a folder containing multiple Word documents.
- When handling mixed-format folders containing .pdf, .docx, and .xlsx files.
Advantages
- Ensures accurate content extraction from complex .docx structures.
- Standardizes document formats for easier AI analysis.
- Handles embedded images by extracting them into a structured folder.
- Prevents silent failures by requiring sibling skills for mixed file types.
Usage examples
- “Can you summarize this project proposal.docx?”
- The agent invokes the conversion script to create a Markdown version of the proposal, then reads the resulting .md file to generate the summary.
- “Analyze all the documents in the /reports folder.”
- The agent runs the batch conversion script on the folder, then proceeds to analyze the generated Markdown files.
- “Extract the budget data from the files in this folder.”
- The agent identifies the file types and invokes the appropriate conversion skills (e.g., convert-word-to-md and convert-excel-to-md) before extracting the data.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/github/convert-word-to-md/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip convert-word-to-md.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by 1YaoWei0
Convert Word to Markdown
When to use this skill
Trigger this skill any time there is a .docx file that needs to be
understood or processed — for example, a user attaches a Word document and
asks questions about it, wants a summary, wants specific data pulled out, or
wants multiple Word documents in a folder processed together. Word's native
.docx format is a zipped XML bundle that is not reliably readable as plain
text, so always convert it to Markdown first using the script in this
skill rather than trying to open or parse the file directly.
This skill only supports .docx. If asked to convert a legacy .doc file,
tell the user it isn't supported and ask them to re-save it as .docx
(Word: File > Save As > Word Document (.docx)) first.
Mixed file types: When the user references a folder or set of documents
containing multiple supported file types (.pdf, .docx, .xlsx), this
skill handles only .docx files. The agent MUST also invoke the sibling
skills in parallel:
convert-pdf-to-mdfor any.pdffilesconvert-excel-to-mdfor any.xlsxfiles
Never process a folder and silently skip a supported file type. All three skills must be invoked together when mixed types are present.
Setup (once per environment)
Before the first conversion in a given environment, follow
references/setup.md step by step to ensure Python,
pip, and the markitdown package are installed. Do this proactively rather
than guessing whether the environment is ready — the script itself will
also fail with a clear pointer back to that file if markitdown turns out
to be missing, so it's safe to just try the conversion first if you're
reasonably confident setup was already done.
Usage
The conversion script lives at scripts/convert_word_to_md.py.
Output structure: MarkItDown embeds images as a truncated data:image/png;base64... URI
placeholder (not real image data), so the script
extracts real images directly from the .docx and writes a self-contained
folder per document instead of a single loose .md file:
<name>/
img/
img001.<ext>
img002.<ext>
...
<name>.md (image references are relative: img/imgNNN.ext)If the document has no embedded images, no img/ folder is created.
Single file:
# Windows
python scripts\convert_word_to_md.py "C:\path\to\document.docx"# macOS / Linux
python scripts/convert_word_to_md.py "/path/to/document.docx"This creates a document\ folder next to the source file (containing
document.md and, if present, document\img\). To control the destination
folder explicitly:
python scripts\convert_word_to_md.py "C:\path\to\document.docx" -o "C:\path\to\output_folder"A folder of Word documents (batch mode):
python scripts\convert_word_to_md.py "C:\path\to\folder"Add --recursive to also include subfolders:
python scripts\convert_word_to_md.py "C:\path\to\folder" --recursiveEach .docx found gets its own <name>\ output folder next to it by
default. Pass -o "C:\path\to\output_parent" to collect all the generated
<name>\ folders under a separate parent directory instead (subfolder
structure is preserved when combined with --recursive).
After conversion, read the resulting .md file(s) to perform the actual
analysis the user asked for — the script's job is only to produce accurate
Markdown (and images), not to interpret the content.
Deciding where output goes
Default — always output next to the source file. The <name>/ folder
is created in the same directory as the source .docx. This is the required
default for every case. Do NOT override it unless the user explicitly asks
for a different location.
Only use -o when the user explicitly provides an output path (e.g.,
"save the output to C:\output", "put the results in D:\work"). Do NOT
pass -o based on the agent's current working directory, the session state
folder, or any implied location.
If the source file path cannot be fully resolved — for example, the
user provides only a filename with no directory, or the path is ambiguous —
use ask_user to confirm the full absolute path before running the
conversion. Never guess or assume the directory.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'markitdown' / exit code 2 | MarkItDown not installed | Follow references/setup.md |
ERROR: Unsupported file type '.doc' / exit code 3 | Legacy .doc, not .docx | Ask the user to re-save as .docx |
ERROR: Input path not found / exit code 3 | Wrong path, or file moved | Confirm the correct path with the user |
FAILED <file> -> ... in batch output | That specific file is corrupt, password-protected, or otherwise unreadable | Report which file(s) failed; other files in the batch still succeed |
NOTE: skipped N non-.docx file(s) | Folder contains non-Word files | Expected — those files are intentionally ignored |
WARNING: found N image placeholder(s) ... but extracted M image file(s) | Mismatch between MarkItDown's placeholder count and images found in word/media/ (unusual/malformed docx) | Placeholders are left unreplaced rather than risk wrong images; inspect the source file's media manually if images are needed |
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer869 B
- LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer1.0 KiB
- SKILL.md6.2 KiB
- references/setup.md2.2 KiB
- scripts/convert_word_to_md.pyScript10.7 KiB
- scripts/requirements.txt24 B
scripts/convert_word_to_md.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Convert Word (.docx) documents to Markdown using Microsoft's MarkItDown,
with embedded images extracted to real files (MarkItDown only emits a
truncated `data:image/...;base64...` placeholder, not real image data).
Usage:
python convert_word_to_md.py <input> [-o OUTPUT] [--recursive]
<input> may be either:
- a path to a single .docx file, or
- a path to a directory (batch mode: every .docx file directly inside it
is converted; pass --recursive to also descend into subdirectories).
Output:
For each source .docx (named "<name>.docx"), a folder is created
containing the Markdown and its images, in this layout:
<name>/
img/
img001.<ext>
img002.<ext>
...
<name>.md (image references are relative: img/imgNNN.ext)
- Single file mode: the "<name>/" folder is created next to the source
file, or at -o/--output (treated as the exact destination folder) if
given.
- Batch/directory mode: a "<name>/" folder is created next to each source
file, or under -o/--output (treated as a parent directory, created if
missing) if given, preserving relative subfolder structure when
--recursive is used.
- If a document has no embedded images, no "img/" folder is created.
Exit codes:
0 - all requested conversions succeeded
1 - one or more conversions failed (partial success in batch mode)
2 - required dependency ("markitdown") is not installed
3 - invalid input (path not found, or single-file input is not .docx)
"""
import argparse
import re
import shutil
import sys
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path
from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
EXIT_OK = 0
EXIT_CONVERSION_FAILED = 1
EXIT_MISSING_DEPENDENCY = 2
EXIT_INVALID_INPUT = 3
_W_NS = "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main"
_R_NS = "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships"
_REL_NS = "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships"
# MarkItDown embeds images as a literal truncated placeholder, e.g.
#  -- NOT real base64 data. This pattern
# matches that placeholder so it can be swapped for a real relative path.
_PLACEHOLDER_IMAGE_RE = re.compile(
r'!\[([^\]]*)\]\(data:image/[a-zA-Z0-9.+-]+;base64[^)]*\)'
)
def _import_markitdown():
"""Import MarkItDown, failing with a clear, actionable message if absent."""
try:
from markitdown import MarkItDown
return MarkItDown
except ImportError:
print(
"ERROR: The 'markitdown' package is not installed.\n"
"See references/setup.md for this skill, or run:\n"
' pip install "markitdown[docx]"',
file=sys.stderr,
)
sys.exit(EXIT_MISSING_DEPENDENCY)
def _document_order_media(docx_path: Path):
"""Return [(rel_id, media_zip_path), ...] in the order images appear in
word/document.xml (via r:embed / r:id), resolved through
word/_rels/document.xml.rels. Returns [] if the document has no body
part or no images (e.g. malformed docx falls back gracefully)."""
try:
with zipfile.ZipFile(docx_path) as z:
if "word/document.xml" not in z.namelist() or \
"word/_rels/document.xml.rels" not in z.namelist():
return []
rels_xml = z.read("word/_rels/document.xml.rels")
doc_xml = z.read("word/document.xml")
except (zipfile.BadZipFile, KeyError, OSError):
return []
try:
rels_root = ET.fromstring(rels_xml)
doc_root = ET.fromstring(doc_xml)
except ET.ParseError:
return []
rel_map = {}
for rel in rels_root.findall(f"{{{_REL_NS}}}Relationship"):
rel_map[rel.get("Id")] = rel.get("Target")
ordered_rel_ids = []
for elem in doc_root.iter():
tag = elem.tag.rsplit("}", 1)[-1]
if tag == "blip":
rid = elem.get(f"{{{_R_NS}}}embed")
elif tag == "imagedata":
rid = elem.get(f"{{{_R_NS}}}id")
else:
rid = None
if rid:
ordered_rel_ids.append(rid)
ordered_media = []
for rid in ordered_rel_ids:
target = rel_map.get(rid)
if not target or "media/" not in target:
continue
import posixpath
media_path = (
target.lstrip("/")
if target.startswith("/")
else posixpath.normpath(
target if target.startswith("word/") else posixpath.join("word", target)
)
)
ordered_media.append((rid, media_path))
return ordered_media
def _extract_images(docx_path: Path, img_dir: Path):
"""Extract embedded images from docx_path into img_dir as img001.ext,
img002.ext, ... in document order. Returns the list of written filenames
(relative to img_dir), in that same order."""
ordered_media = _document_order_media(docx_path)
if not ordered_media:
return []
written = []
with zipfile.ZipFile(docx_path) as z:
names_in_zip = set(z.namelist())
for idx, (rid, media_path) in enumerate(ordered_media, start=1):
if media_path not in names_in_zip:
print(f"WARNING: {media_path} (rel {rid}) not found in {docx_path}", file=sys.stderr)
continue
ext = Path(media_path).suffix.lstrip(".").lower() or "bin"
if ext == "jpg":
ext = "jpeg"
out_name = f"img{idx:03d}.{ext}"
img_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
(img_dir / out_name).write_bytes(z.read(media_path))
written.append(out_name)
return written
def _rewrite_image_refs(markdown_text: str, image_files) -> str:
"""Replace MarkItDown's truncated base64 image placeholders with real
relative img/imgNNN.ext references, in left-to-right order. If the
counts don't match (unexpected), the placeholders are left as-is rather
than risk mismatched references."""
matches = list(_PLACEHOLDER_IMAGE_RE.finditer(markdown_text))
if not matches:
return markdown_text
if len(matches) != len(image_files):
print(
f"WARNING: found {len(matches)} image placeholder(s) in markdown but "
f"extracted {len(image_files)} image file(s); leaving placeholders "
"unreplaced to avoid mismatched references.",
file=sys.stderr,
)
return markdown_text
counter = {"i": 0}
def _replace(m):
name = image_files[counter["i"]]
counter["i"] += 1
return f""
return _PLACEHOLDER_IMAGE_RE.sub(_replace, markdown_text)
def convert_one(md, source: Path, dest_dir: Path) -> bool:
"""Convert a single .docx file to a "<name>/" folder containing the
Markdown file and an "img/" folder of extracted images. Returns True on
success."""
try:
result = md.convert(str(source))
except ImportError as exc:
print(
f"ERROR: A required dependency for converting '{source.name}' is not installed.\n"
f" {exc}\n"
"See references/setup.md for this skill, or run:\n"
' pip install "markitdown[docx]"',
file=sys.stderr,
)
sys.exit(EXIT_MISSING_DEPENDENCY)
except Exception as exc: # noqa: BLE001 - surface any conversion error
print(f"FAILED {source} -> {exc}", file=sys.stderr)
return False
try:
if dest_dir.exists():
shutil.rmtree(dest_dir)
dest_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
image_files = _extract_images(source, dest_dir / "img")
text = _rewrite_image_refs(result.text_content, image_files)
md_path = dest_dir / f"{source.stem}.md"
md_path.write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
except OSError as exc:
print(f"FAILED {source} -> could not write output in {dest_dir}: {exc}", file=sys.stderr)
return False
img_note = f", {len(image_files)} image(s)" if image_files else ""
print(f"OK {source} -> {md_path}{img_note}")
return True
def find_docx_files(root: Path, recursive: bool):
"""Return (docx_files, skipped_count) for files directly/recursively under root."""
pattern_iter = root.rglob("*") if recursive else root.iterdir()
docx_files = []
skipped = 0
for entry in pattern_iter:
if entry.is_dir():
continue
if entry.suffix.lower() == ".docx":
docx_files.append(entry)
else:
skipped += 1
return sorted(docx_files), skipped
def main() -> int:
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__.splitlines()[0])
parser.add_argument("input", help="Path to a .docx file or a directory of .docx files")
parser.add_argument(
"-o", "--output",
help=(
"Destination folder for the '<name>/' output (single-file mode), "
"or parent directory under which each '<name>/' output folder is "
"created (batch mode)"
),
)
parser.add_argument(
"--recursive", action="store_true",
help="When input is a directory, also search subdirectories",
)
args = parser.parse_args()
#MarkItDown = _import_markitdown()
#md = MarkItDown()
source = Path(args.input)
if not source.exists():
print(f"ERROR: Input path not found: {source}", file=sys.stderr)
return EXIT_INVALID_INPUT
if source.is_file() and source.suffix.lower() != ".docx":
print(
f"ERROR: Unsupported file type '{source.suffix}'. "
"This skill only converts .docx files.",
file=sys.stderr,
)
return EXIT_INVALID_INPUT
MarkItDown = _import_markitdown()
md = MarkItDown()
if source.is_file():
dest_dir = Path(args.output) if args.output else source.parent / source.stem
return EXIT_OK if convert_one(md, source, dest_dir) else EXIT_CONVERSION_FAILED
# Directory / batch mode
docx_files, skipped = find_docx_files(source, args.recursive)
if skipped:
print(f"NOTE: skipped {skipped} non-.docx file(s) in {source}")
if not docx_files:
print(f"ERROR: No .docx files found under {source}", file=sys.stderr)
return EXIT_INVALID_INPUT
out_dir = Path(args.output) if args.output else None
success_count = 0
for docx_path in docx_files:
if out_dir is not None:
rel = docx_path.relative_to(source)
dest_dir = out_dir / rel.parent / docx_path.stem
else:
dest_dir = docx_path.parent / docx_path.stem
if convert_one(md, docx_path, dest_dir):
success_count += 1
total = len(docx_files)
print(f"\nConverted {success_count}/{total} file(s).")
return EXIT_OK if success_count == total else EXIT_CONVERSION_FAILED
if __name__ == "__main__":
sys.exit(main())
Requirements and compatibility
Written for: GitHub Copilot
Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta
“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.
Needs: Needs Python
Security
What our scanner noticed· Low risk
- Instructions that use the network
- Scripts that your agent may run
This skill includes scripts that your agent may run. Read them before you use it.
A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.
Attribution and licence
- First committed by
1YaoWei0
- Publisher
- GitHub (Official)
- Distributed by
- GitHub
- Source
- github/awesome-copilot · skills/convert-word-to-md · commit 797337f
- Licence
- MIT License (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
- Contributors
- 1YaoWei0
AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by 1YaoWei0 or GitHub.
Download ZIP
The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download convert-word-to-md.zip