PDF to Markdown for Obsidian

Turn PDFs into clean, structured Markdown you can drop straight into your Obsidian vault — headings become note structure, tables stay as tables, and page clutter is removed.

How to get a PDF into Obsidian

  1. Upload your PDF below.
  2. We convert it to clean Markdown and estimate the token count.
  3. Copy or download the .md file and drop it into your vault.

Beary is waiting for a document. Choose or drop a file to begin.

Drop your PDF here

or

PDF · up to 100 MB

You can also drag and drop the file into this box.

Need another format? Use the universal converter →

Why convert first

  • Real Markdown headings become note structure and outline entries in Obsidian.
  • Tables stay as Markdown tables instead of a wall of text.
  • Repeated page headers, footers, and page numbers are stripped out.
  • Every word of your content is kept — nothing is summarized or invented.

LessTokens is an independent tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Obsidian.

Questions

Does it work on scanned or image-only PDFs?

Yes. Scanned or image-only PDFs are read with self-hosted OCR (currently the first 20 pages; anything beyond that is disclosed in the output). Accuracy depends on scan quality and the result carries the engine's confidence in the characters it read (not how much of the page it found); when the text can't be read, the tool tells you honestly instead of returning empty output.

Is my file private?

Files are processed temporarily, never used to train AI, and automatically deleted within 60 minutes.

File retention

Uploaded originals and conversion results are temporary. They are not kept as a permanent document library.

  • Uploaded originals are used only to produce your Markdown result and are deleted as soon as processing ends, or within 60 minutes at the latest.
  • Conversion results and job records are available for up to 60 minutes, then expire and are automatically removed from the active database.
  • We do not keep a permanent document library. Limited provider-managed infrastructure snapshots may retain residual copies for up to 5 days before automatic expiry.
  • Uploaded originals are held in temporary local storage only while the job is processed. Recurring cleanup removes any expired temporary upload left by an interruption.