# Convert PDF to Markdown for RAG and LLMs

**Use case:** 

Turn PDFs, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files into clean Markdown with tables preserved, plus text chunks ready for embeddings and vector databases. Headers and footers are removed, so the text is ready for ChatGPT, Claude or a RAG pipeline.

## Input

```json
{
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsvine/pdfplumber/stable/examples/pdfs/background-checks.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "followDocumentLinks": false,
  "maxLinkedDocuments": 20,
  "outputs": [
    "markdown",
    "chunks"
  ],
  "saveFiles": false,
  "tableDetection": "lines",
  "removeHeadersFooters": true,
  "ocr": "auto",
  "ocrLanguages": [
    "eng"
  ],
  "maxPages": 500,
  "chunkSize": 1000,
  "chunkOverlap": 100,
  "maxFileSizeMb": 50,
  "maxCharactersPerDocument": 0,
  "extractionModel": "claude-opus-5",
  "failOnError": false,
  "maxConcurrency": 2
}
```

## Output

```json
{
  "source": {
    "label": "Document",
    "format": "string"
  },
  "markdown": {
    "label": "Markdown",
    "format": "string"
  }
}
```

## About this Actor

This example demonstrates how to use [PDF to Markdown Extractor & Document Parser: Tables, JSON, OCR](https://apify.com/fguiraud/document-to-markdown-tables.md) with a specific input configuration. Visit the [Actor detail page](https://apify.com/fguiraud/document-to-markdown-tables.md) to learn more, explore other use cases, and run it yourself.


## How to integrate an Actor?

This Task's input is already configured above. Use it as-is rather than inventing a new one.

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 full API examples (JavaScript, Python, CLI, MCP, OpenAPI), see this Task's Actor page: https://apify.com/fguiraud/document-to-markdown-tables.md

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`).