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-md for any .pdf files
• convert-excel-to-md for any .xlsx files

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:

powershell
# Windows
python scripts\convert_word_to_md.py "C:\path\to\document.docx"

bash
# 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:

powershell
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):

powershell
python scripts\convert_word_to_md.py "C:\path\to\folder"

Add --recursive to also include subfolders:

powershell
python scripts\convert_word_to_md.py "C:\path\to\folder" --recursive

Each .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 |