How to convert EPUB to Word, Markdown or HTML (and back)

How to convert EPUB to Word (and the other pairs) in the browser

Open the tool for the pair of formats you need (for example, EPUB → Word), upload the file and click "Convert and download." There is no destination picker: each conversion is its own tool, with a single button. Headings, lists and links are preserved in all of them. Tables become real tables between Word and Markdown; when converting EPUB or HTML to Word, each table row becomes a line of text. Everything happens in your browser.

1. Pick the tool for your case: for example, EPUB → Word to edit an e-book.
2. Upload the file (.epub, .md, .html or .docx, depending on the tool). You can upload several; the button changes to "Convert N files."
3. Click "Convert and download." The result comes out with the original name and the new extension (for example, book.docx).
4. Open the file in your editor and check headings, images and tables.

Word, EPUB, Markdown and HTML: what each is for

They all hold text, but for different purposes. Word (.docx) is the format for writing, reviewing and printing, with rich formatting. EPUB is the e-book format, built for e-readers. Markdown (.md) is plain text with light markup (# for a heading, - for a list), widely used by people who write documentation and notes; the syntax is in the CommonMark specification. And HTML is the language of web pages; an HTML file opens in any browser. Converting means moving the same content from one format to another while keeping the structure. The opposite direction, from Word to EPUB, has its own guide: how to convert Word (.docx) to an EPUB ebook.

What each conversion keeps (and what it doesn't)

• EPUB → Word: chapters come in reading order, separated by page breaks; headings become heading styles; bold, italic, code, links and images are kept. Tables do not become tables: each row becomes a paragraph with the cells separated by " · ".
• EPUB → Markdown: headings, lists and emphasis become the equivalent markup; images are embedded inside the .md itself.
• EPUB → HTML: a single self-contained .html file, with text, chapters, images and style embedded, that opens offline in any browser.
• Markdown → Word: headings, lists, code, quotes, real tables and links. Markdown images are not embedded: they come in as links to the original file.
• Word → Markdown: headings, lists, bold, tables and links become the equivalent markup; the document's images are embedded inside the .md itself.
• HTML → Word: works the same way as EPUB → Word. Headings, lists, links and images embedded in the file are kept; tables become lines of text; images pointing to internet addresses are not fetched.
• HTML → Markdown: headings, lists, links, code and quotes; the page's CSS and style blocks (its styling code) are discarded, leaving only the structured text.
• Markdown → HTML: a complete page, with a readable style built in, ready to open or publish.
• If the EPUB has no readable text (for example, because of DRM, the store lock), you see "We could not find readable text in this EPUB."; an HTML file with no visible content is refused with "This file has no visible content to convert."

From EPUB to Markdown or HTML

Besides Word, the e-book becomes Markdown, to study and annotate in any text editor, or a single self-contained HTML file, to read in the browser even without internet or publish on a site.

From Markdown to Word and to HTML

If you write in Markdown but need to hand in a formatted document, converting to Word does it: headings become real heading styles, lists become actual lists, and bold, italic, code, tables and links are preserved. Just keep in mind that images come in as links, not as figures. To publish, the conversion to HTML produces a complete page with a readable style built in. To turn the Markdown into a PDF rather than Word, see how to convert text, Markdown or HTML to PDF.

From Word to Markdown (and the v2 version, on the server)

To pull a text out of Word and bring it into your notes, documentation or a site, the Word to Markdown conversion produces clean text with headings, lists, bold, tables and links, right in the browser.

For more complex documents, there is the v2 version of Word to Markdown, built on the LibreOffice engine, which delivers headings, lists, tables and links. The difference matters: it runs on our server. You click "Open converter," wait a few seconds, upload the .docx inside the window (one at a time, up to 200 MB) and click "Baixar MD" (the window is in Portuguese; the button means "Download MD"); the document is discarded after the conversion. The document's images do not come inside the .md produced by this version. The details of that version, and what it does with scanned PDFs and tables, are in how to convert scanned PDF, Word and tables to Markdown.

From HTML to Word or Markdown

Got an HTML page and want to edit it in Word? The conversion produces a .docx with headings, lists, links and the images embedded in the file (tables become lines of text). To turn the page into clean notes, HTML to Markdown strips the clutter and leaves just the structured text.

Which conversion to use in each situation

• Review or reuse an e-book in an ordinary editor: EPUB → Word.
• Study an e-book with notes in plain text: EPUB → Markdown.
• Read an e-book in the browser or publish it: EPUB → HTML.
• Hand in a formatted document from notes: Markdown → Word; publish: Markdown → HTML.
• Bring a Word text into documentation or a site: Word → Markdown (the v2 version uses the LibreOffice engine and runs on the server).
• Edit a web page in Word or clean it up for notes: HTML → Word or HTML → Markdown.
• A document with many tables coming from EPUB or HTML: prefer the Markdown route, where tables survive.

The eight conversions in this guide happen in your browser: the document is converted on your own device and is never sent to any server. The one exception is the v2 version of Word to Markdown, which runs on our server and says so on its own screen.