# PDF to Markdown Converter (`web.harvester/pdf-to-markdown-converter`) Actor

Convert PDFs to clean Markdown with optional OCR for scanned documents. Uses PDF.js for text extraction and Tesseract.js for optical character recognition.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/web.harvester/pdf-to-markdown-converter.md
- **Developed by:** [Web Harvester](https://apify.com/web.harvester) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, AI
- **Stats:** 5 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00/month + usage

To use this Actor, you pay a monthly rental fee to the developer. The rent is subtracted from your prepaid usage every month after the free trial period. You also pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher Apify subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#rental-actors

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## PDF to Markdown Converter

Convert PDFs to clean Markdown with optional OCR for scanned documents. Lightweight alternative to heavy document processing tools.

### Features

- **Fast Text Extraction**: Uses PDF.js for native text PDFs
- **OCR Support**: Tesseract.js for scanned/image documents
- **Smart Mode**: Auto-detects best extraction method per page
- **Layout Preservation**: Maintains document structure
- **Multi-language OCR**: 14+ languages supported
- **Batch Processing**: Convert multiple PDFs at once

### Input

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|---------|-------------|
| `file` | string | - | Upload a PDF file |
| `pdfUrls` | array | - | URLs of PDFs to convert |
| `mode` | string | "quick" | Extraction mode |
| `language` | string | "eng" | OCR language |
| `preserveLayout` | boolean | true | Preserve document structure |

#### Extraction Modes

- **quick**: Fast extraction using PDF.js - best for native text PDFs
- **ocr**: Tesseract OCR - use for scanned documents or images
- **combined**: Auto-detects per page - uses OCR when text extraction fails

### Output

Results are saved to the dataset:

```json
{
    "status": "success",
    "fileName": "document.pdf",
    "pdfUrl": "https://.../",
    "markdown": "# Document Title\n\nContent here...",
    "pageCount": 5,
    "extractionMethod": "pdf.js",
    "characterCount": 12345
}
```

### Use Cases

1. **LLM Preprocessing**: Convert PDFs for AI/RAG pipelines
2. **Documentation Migration**: Convert PDF docs to Markdown
3. **Content Extraction**: Pull text from reports and papers
4. **Accessibility**: Make PDF content more accessible
5. **Archive Conversion**: Convert legacy PDFs to modern format

### Supported Languages (OCR)

- English, French, German, Spanish, Italian
- Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian
- Chinese (Simplified/Traditional)
- Japanese, Korean, Arabic

### Example

```bash
## Using Apify CLI
apify run -i '{
    "pdfUrls": ["https://example.com/document.pdf"],
    "mode": "combined",
    "language": "eng"
}'
```

### Technical Notes

- Quick mode is 10-50x faster than OCR
- OCR quality depends on scan quality and resolution
- Combined mode adds overhead for analysis
- Large PDFs may require more memory
- Some complex layouts may not convert perfectly

# Actor input Schema

## `file` (type: `string`):

Upload a PDF file to convert

## `pdfUrls` (type: `array`):

URLs of PDF files to convert

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Text extraction method

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language for OCR (only used in OCR/combined mode)

## `preserveLayout` (type: `boolean`):

Try to preserve document layout and structure

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "pdfUrls": [
    "https://pdfobject.com/pdf/sample.pdf"
  ],
  "mode": "quick",
  "language": "eng",
  "preserveLayout": true
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "pdfUrls": [
        "https://pdfobject.com/pdf/sample.pdf"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("web.harvester/pdf-to-markdown-converter").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "pdfUrls": ["https://pdfobject.com/pdf/sample.pdf"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("web.harvester/pdf-to-markdown-converter").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "pdfUrls": [
    "https://pdfobject.com/pdf/sample.pdf"
  ]
}' |
apify call web.harvester/pdf-to-markdown-converter --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,web.harvester/pdf-to-markdown-converter"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/jbbFUwgZduxuxWkBp/builds/GvlVgHt26A6KaNRgA/openapi.json