About MDTool
Free, client-side conversion tools for Markdown, PDF, HTML, and Word.
What MDTool is
MDTool is a small set of single-purpose conversion tools: Markdown to PDF, Markdown to HTML, Markdown to Word, HTML to Markdown, and Word to Markdown. There is no account system, no saved-document history, and no paywall. Every tool is free to use without limits.
How conversion actually works
Every conversion runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. When you paste text or upload a file, it is parsed and rendered locally on your device. It is never transmitted to an MDTool server. You can verify this yourself: open your browser's Network tab while converting and you'll see no outbound request carrying your document content.
This is possible because each tool is built on well-established open-source libraries:
- marked: Markdown parsing
- highlight.js: syntax highlighting for code blocks
- mermaid: diagram rendering
- pdfmake + html-to-pdfmake: in-browser vector PDF generation with selectable, searchable text
- docx: generating Word (.docx) files
- mammoth: reading Word (.docx) files
- turndown: HTML-to-Markdown conversion
None of these libraries require a server round-trip to do their job, which is why MDTool doesn't have one for the conversion step itself.
Who runs MDTool
MDTool is built and maintained by Muhammad Usman, a software developer who works on browser-based document processing and web tooling. He writes every converter and every guide on this site, and the recommendations in the blog are based on the tools' documented behavior and hands-on testing. You can see the project's source and history on GitHub.
MDTool is an independent, solo-maintained project. That's also why it can stay free: there is no team, no office, and no server infrastructure processing your files.
Not to be confused with
The name “mdtool” is also used by two unrelated pieces of software: the MonoDevelop command-line tool (mdtool, for building MonoDevelop projects) and MDTools, a SolidWorks/Inventor add-in for manifold design. MDTool (mdtool.dev) is neither of those — it is a browser-based Markdown converter for turning Markdown into PDF, HTML, and Word documents, and back.
How MDTool is funded
MDTool is supported by non-intrusive display advertising rather than subscriptions or paid tiers. See the Privacy Policy for details on what that involves.
Questions or feedback
See the Contact page to get in touch.