# Convert PDF to Markdown API (`api-center/convert-pdf-to-markdown-api`) Actor

Convert a PDF from a URL or file upload into clean Markdown and save the result to the run's key-value store.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/api-center/convert-pdf-to-markdown-api.md
- **Developed by:** [Leo Yan](https://apify.com/api-center) (community)
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 90.9% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.002 / actor start

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## PDF to Markdown Converter

Convert a PDF from a public URL or a file upload into clean Markdown. Files up to **256 MB** are
supported. The `.md` result is written to the run's default key-value store, together with a
machine-readable `OUTPUT` record.

The Actor uses a fast local PDF parser that detects text-based and scanned documents, preserves
reading order, and converts headings, lists, tables, links, and text formatting to Markdown.
It can be called through the Apify API or from Apify Console.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `url` | string | [sample PDF](https://www.pdfpdf.com/samples/pptdemo1.pdf) | Public HTTP(S) URL of the PDF. |
| `fileUpload` | string | - | Uploaded PDF or Apify key-value store record URL. Takes precedence over `url`. |

Only PDF input is accepted. The URL does not need to end in `.pdf`; the downloaded content is
checked for a PDF header before conversion starts. Password-protected PDFs are rejected because
their content cannot be read without the password.

Text must be embedded in the PDF. Image-only scans are not OCR'd; they produce an `OUTPUT` record
with `error.code = "NO_TEXT"` and a suggestion to use an OCR-enabled pipeline.

### Output

For an input named `input.pdf`, the Markdown document is stored in the run's default key-value
store under `input.md` with content type `text/markdown; charset=utf-8`.

When the run finishes, the **Output** tab in Apify Console lists the Markdown document and links
to the `OUTPUT` record. These links are defined in `.actor/output_schema.json`.

An `OUTPUT` JSON record describes the result:

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Converted a 5.1 MB PDF (12 pages) to Markdown (2.3 MB). The result is stored as \"pptdemo1.md\" in the run's key-value store.",
  "input": {
    "source": "https://example.com/pptdemo1.pdf",
    "filename": "pptdemo1.pdf",
    "bytes": 5321132,
    "mb": "5.1 MB",
    "pages": 12
  },
  "output": {
    "key": "pptdemo1.md",
    "storeId": "STORE_ID",
    "filename": "pptdemo1.md",
    "contentType": "text/markdown; charset=utf-8",
    "bytes": 2411724,
    "mb": "2.3 MB",
    "downloadUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/STORE_ID/records/pptdemo1.md"
  },
  "pricing": {
    "eventName": "pdf-mb",
    "unitPriceUsd": 0.001,
    "chargedEvents": 6,
    "estimatedCostUsd": 0.006,
    "charged": true,
    "actorStart": {
      "eventName": "apify-actor-start",
      "unitPriceUsd": 0.002,
      "events": 1,
      "estimatedCostUsd": 0.002,
      "chargedAutomatically": true
    },
    "estimatedTotalCostUsd": 0.008
  },
  "limits": {
    "memoryMb": 512,
    "maxMemoryMb": 512,
    "diskMb": 1024,
    "maxInputBytes": 268435456,
    "maxInputMb": 256
  }
}
```

On failure, `success` is `false`, `error.code` identifies the problem, and `error.message`
contains a user-facing explanation. The `OUTPUT` record is written for both successful and
failed runs.

#### Filename rules

- `input.pdf` -> `input.md`
- `report.PDF` -> `report.md`
- `report` -> `report.md`
- `report.html` -> `report.md`
- `report.docx` -> `report.md`
- `report.tar.gz` -> `report.tar.md`

Filenames are sanitized before use with a cross-platform filename cleaner. Directory components
are removed, characters that are invalid in filenames are replaced, reserved device names are
defused, and trailing dots or spaces are removed. The remaining name is normalized to letters,
digits, `.`, `_`, and `-`, and truncated to a safe length. For example, `hello world.pdf`
becomes `hello_world.md`.

### Pricing

The Actor uses **pay-per-event (PPE)** pricing with two charges.

#### Per-run fee

Apify charges the synthetic `apify-actor-start` event automatically at **$0.002 per start**
(**$2 per 1,000 runs**). It applies to every run, including runs that later fail, and is not
charged by the Actor code.

The event is charged once for every run. Because the Actor's memory is fixed at 512 MB, each run
incurs exactly one start event ($0.002).

#### Per-MB fee

The Actor charges the event `pdf-mb` **once per started megabyte of the input file**, at
**$0.001 per event**:

- 1 byte to 1 MB -> 1 event -> $0.001
- 5.1 MB -> 6 events -> $0.006
- 128 MB -> 128 events -> $0.128
- 256 MB -> 256 events -> $0.256

This event is charged only after the Markdown document has been saved to the key-value store.
Failed runs, including oversized, non-PDF, password-protected, and no-text inputs, are not
charged for `pdf-mb`.

#### Total cost

| Input | Start fee | `pdf-mb` | Total |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 byte to 1 MB | $0.002 | $0.001 | $0.003 |
| 5.1 MB | $0.002 | $0.006 | $0.008 |
| 128 MB | $0.002 | $0.128 | $0.130 |
| 256 MB | $0.002 | $0.256 | $0.258 |

The `pricing` object in `OUTPUT` reports both the `pdf-mb` charge and the automatic start fee.

### Size limits

The Actor runs with **512 MB of memory** and **1 GB of disk** (Apify gives each run disk space
equal to twice its memory). To leave headroom for PDF processing and the output file, the input
limit is half the memory:

```text
max input size = memory / 2 = 256 MB
```

| Memory | Disk | Maximum input |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 512 MB (fixed) | 1 GB | 256 MB |

The Actor checks the remote `Content-Length` before downloading. If the server does not report a
size, the same limit is enforced while streaming the download. An oversized file produces an
`OUTPUT` record with `error.code = "FILE_TOO_LARGE"` and no `pdf-mb` charge.

Files larger than 256 MB cannot be processed by this Actor; split them into smaller PDFs before
uploading. The default run timeout is **10 minutes**.

### Calling the API

Start an asynchronous run:

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/OWNER~convert-pdf-to-markdown-api/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://www.pdfpdf.com/samples/pptdemo1.pdf"
  }'
```

The response contains `data.id`, `data.defaultKeyValueStoreId`, and `data.status`. Poll the run,
then read the metadata and download the result:

```bash
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/RUN_ID?token=$APIFY_TOKEN"

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/STORE_ID/records/OUTPUT?token=$APIFY_TOKEN"

curl -OJ "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/STORE_ID/records/pptdemo1.md?token=$APIFY_TOKEN"
```

Synchronous call (waits for the run to finish):

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/OWNER~convert-pdf-to-markdown-api/run-sync?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com/input.pdf"}'
```

Uploading a file is also supported. Upload the PDF to a key-value store, then pass the record URL
as `fileUpload`:

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/OWNER~convert-pdf-to-markdown-api/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "fileUpload": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/STORE_ID/records/input.pdf"
  }'
```

### Error codes

| Code | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| `INVALID_INPUT` | Missing/invalid URL or unsupported scheme. |
| `DOWNLOAD_FAILED` | The source could not be downloaded (DNS, TLS, HTTP 4xx/5xx, timeout). |
| `EMPTY_FILE` | The source returned an empty file. |
| `NOT_A_PDF` | The file is not a valid PDF or has no readable pages. |
| `PASSWORD_PROTECTED` | The PDF is encrypted and needs a password. |
| `NO_TEXT` | No extractable text was found; the PDF may be a scanned image. |
| `CONVERSION_FAILED` | The conversion engine could not produce a Markdown document. |
| `CONVERSION_UNAVAILABLE` | The PDF conversion runtime is not available in this deployment. |
| `UPLOAD_FAILED` | The result could not be written to the key-value store. |
| `FILE_TOO_LARGE` | The input exceeds the run's memory-derived limit. |
| `TEMP_DIR_FAILED` | The run could not create a temporary directory. |

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

Public HTTP(S) URL of the PDF to convert. The default is a sample PDF that is useful for testing.

## `fileUpload` (type: `string`):

Upload a PDF or paste an Apify key-value store record URL. When provided, this file takes precedence over the PDF URL field.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.pdfpdf.com/samples/pptdemo1.pdf"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `markdownDocument` (type: `string`):

Contents of the run's default key-value store. The converted file is stored as <original-name>.md with content type text/markdown; charset=utf-8.

## `result` (type: `string`):

JSON record describing the run: success flag, message, input and output sizes, page count, output record key, download URL, pricing, and limits. Failed runs set success to false and include error.code and error.message.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("api-center/convert-pdf-to-markdown-api").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("api-center/convert-pdf-to-markdown-api").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 '{}' |
apify call api-center/convert-pdf-to-markdown-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/nBU9g4OEp7UdnUXuf/builds/c0MrLeD55Pw1Csd8j/openapi.json