Convert Documents to Markdown with Pandoc

Use the official pandoc/core Docker image to batch-convert documents to Markdown - no local Pandoc install required.

The --network none flag runs the container fully offline.

Word (.docx) → Markdown

Recursively convert every .docx file in an input directory, preserving the folder structure in the output directory.

PowerShell

docker run --rm --network none `
  -v "C:/path/to/input:/in:ro" `
  -v "C:/path/to/output:/out" `
  --entrypoint sh pandoc/core -c '
  cd /in
  find . -type f -name "*.docx" | while read f; do
    rel="${f#./}"
    mkdir -p "/out/$(dirname "$rel")"
    echo "Converting: $rel"
    pandoc "$f" -o "/out/${rel%.*}.md"
  done
'

Bash / Linux / macOS

docker run --rm --network none \
  -v "$(pwd)/input:/in:ro" \
  -v "$(pwd)/output:/out" \
  --entrypoint sh pandoc/core -c '
  cd /in
  find . -type f -name "*.docx" | while read f; do
    rel="${f#./}"
    mkdir -p "/out/$(dirname "$rel")"
    echo "Converting: $rel"
    pandoc "$f" -o "/out/${rel%.*}.md"
  done
'

HTML -> Markdown

Same approach, just swap the file extension in the find filter:

docker run --rm --network none `
  -v "C:/path/to/input:/in:ro" `
  -v "C:/path/to/output:/out" `
  --entrypoint sh pandoc/core -c '
  cd /in
  find . -type f -name "*.html" | while read f; do
    rel="${f#./}"
    mkdir -p "/out/$(dirname "$rel")"
    echo "Converting: $rel"
    pandoc "$f" -o "/out/${rel%.*}.md"
  done
'

Notes

Replace C:/path/to/input and C:/path/to/output with your own directories. Use forward slashes for Docker volume paths on Windows.
:ro mounts the input directory read-only so the source files can’t be modified.
${rel%.*}.md strips the original extension and appends .md.

Extract embedded images with --extract-media:

pandoc "$f" --extract-media="/out/media" -o "/out/${rel%.*}.md"

To convert a single file:

docker run --rm --network none `
  -v "C:/path/to/input:/in:ro" `
  -v "C:/path/to/output:/out" `
  pandoc/core "/in/document.docx" -o "/out/document.md"