Markdown to PDF
Convert markdown into a clean, searchable text-PDF — A4 or Letter, configurable margins and font. Runs in your browser so your draft stays private.
How to convert markdown to PDF online
Paste your markdown into the editor. Pick a page size (A4 or US Letter), set the margin and base font size, and click Generate PDF. ToolChop parses the markdown with marked, then walks the tokens through a custom jsPDF renderer that produces a real text-PDF — selectable, searchable, and tiny (5 pages ≈ 40 KB).
Why a local markdown-to-PDF matters
Markdown is the lingua franca of internal documentation: READMEs in code repos, design docs, runbooks, ADRs, internal wikis, pre-launch blog drafts. Uploading any of those to a third-party converter is exactly the leak you should avoid. ToolChop runs entirely in your browser — the draft never leaves your device.
What is rendered
- Headings H1–H6 with size hierarchy
- Paragraphs with proper word-wrap
- Bullet and numbered lists with hanging indent
- Blockquotes
- Fenced code blocks (Courier on a light background)
- Horizontal rules and tables (monospace alignment)
- Smart page breaks — code blocks try to stay together
Limitations
For a small, fast, dependency-light tool: inline bold/italic/code styling is rendered as plain text, images are not embedded, and the PDF uses Helvetica + Courier (the PDF base-14 set, no font embedding bloat). If you need pixel-perfect typography with images, render via our Markdown Preview and use your browser's File → Print → Save as PDF.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert markdown to PDF online for free?
Paste your markdown into the editor. Pick A4 or US Letter, tune the margin and font size, and click Generate PDF. ToolChop renders the document locally using jsPDF and shows an inline preview. Download the PDF with one click. No account, no upload, no daily limit.
Does ToolChop send my markdown to a server?
No. Rendering runs entirely in your browser using marked (for parsing) and jsPDF (for PDF generation). Your draft never leaves your device — important when the markdown is a README with example API keys, a pre-publication blog post, an internal runbook, or any content you should not casually share with a third party.
Why is the privacy story for markdown-to-PDF important?
Markdown is the lingua franca of internal docs: READMEs in code repos, design docs, runbooks, ADRs, internal wikis, draft blog posts. Uploading a draft to a third-party converter is a needless leak. ToolChop runs entirely in your browser — DevTools → Network confirms no request fires when you generate.
What markdown features are rendered?
Headings (H1–H6 with size hierarchy), paragraphs with word-wrap, bullet and numbered lists, blockquotes, fenced code blocks with monospace font and light background, horizontal rules, and tables (rendered as monospace rows for clean alignment).
What is NOT rendered?
Inline bold/italic/code styling is stripped to plain text — the renderer produces a clean text-PDF rather than a typographically perfect one. Images are not embedded (they would require a separate fetch and bloat the PDF). For pixel-perfect rendering with full styling, use your browser's File → Print → Save as PDF feature on our Markdown Preview tool.
How does the page-break logic work?
ToolChop tracks the y-position as it lays out content and inserts a page break when the next block would overflow the bottom margin. Code blocks try to stay together — if a block does not fit on the current page, it starts on the next one.
Can I customize the margins and font?
Yes. Margin is 24–96pt (default 48pt = ~17mm). Base font is 9–14pt (default 11pt). Headings scale relative to the base font. Tighter margins fit more content per page; larger margins are easier to read and write on.
Why is the PDF so small?
Because it is a real text-PDF, not a rasterized one. Text is stored as actual character data (selectable, searchable), not as page images. A 5-page text document is typically 30–60 KB. PDFs from screen-print to PDF tend to be larger because they embed font glyphs and sometimes rasterize.
What fonts does the PDF use?
Helvetica for body text, Courier for code — both are part of the PDF base-14 set, so they render identically on every viewer without font embedding. That keeps the file small and consistent.
Why is non-ASCII text (accented characters, Cyrillic, Chinese) not rendering correctly?
The PDF base-14 fonts only cover Latin-1. For Cyrillic, Greek, CJK, Arabic, or anything outside Latin-1, the characters will show as blank or '?'. For now, render those documents via our Markdown Preview tool and use your browser's Save as PDF feature, which embeds whatever font your browser uses.
Can I include images?
Not currently. Adding image support would require fetching each referenced image (and respecting CORS), then embedding it as a base64 stream — non-trivial in pure browser code. If your markdown has images, render via our Markdown Preview tool first, then print to PDF from your browser.
Why use ToolChop instead of an online md-to-PDF that uploads my file?
Privacy. Markdown drafts often contain pre-publication content, embedded API key examples, internal architecture details, and customer-facing copy being polished. ToolChop runs entirely in your browser so the draft never leaves your device — verifiable in DevTools → Network.