CamScanner PDF to Markdown

Overview

CamScanner provides a high-precision document parsing engine that converts PDF documents to Markdown format. It intelligently decomposes document paragraphs, precisely recognizes tables and multiple element types, and outputs structured results in reading order — empowering large language models to accurately understand document content. The workflow is a 3-step pipeline: upload the PDF, convert it, then download the result.

When to Use

• User wants to convert a PDF to Markdown
• User wants to extract text/content from a PDF as Markdown
• User has a PDF and needs it as Markdown for further editing or processing

Privacy & Data

Important: Privacy & Data Flow Notice

• Third-party service: This skill sends your files to CamScanner's official servers (ai-tools.camscanner.com) for processing.
• Data retention: CamScanner servers process your files in real-time. Files are not permanently stored on the server.
• Local files: Output files are saved to your local filesystem at the path you specify.

API Reference

Base URL: https://ai-tools.camscanner.com

Supported Conversions

| source_type | target_type | Output | | ----------- | ----------- | ------ | | pdf | md | .md |

Step 1: Upload PDF

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"

IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@/path/to/document.pdf" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

Response:

{
  "code": 200,
  "tool": "upload_file",
  "tool_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "file_id": "file_1741857600_ab12cd34ef56",
      "size": 24576
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Convert PDF to Markdown

OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/convert_pdf/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"source_type\":\"pdf\",\"target_type\":\"md\",\"output_mode\":\"file_id\"}" \
  | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

Response:

{
  "code": 200,
  "tool": "convert_pdf",
  "tool_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "file_id": "file_1741857701_9988aabbccdd",
      "target_type": "md"
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Download Result

curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
  -o /path/to/output.md

Critical: The response_mode=raw query parameter is required to get the binary file. Without it, the response is JSON.

Quick Reference: Complete Pipeline

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"
INPUT_PDF="/path/to/document.pdf"
OUTPUT_FILE="/path/to/output.md"

# Upload
IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@$INPUT_PDF" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Convert
OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/convert_pdf/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"source_type\":\"pdf\",\"target_type\":\"md\",\"output_mode\":\"file_id\"}" \
  | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Download
curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
  -o "$OUTPUT_FILE"

Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Fix | | ------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Forgetting response_mode=raw on download | Always append ?response_mode=raw to the download URL | | Wrong Content-Type on upload | Upload uses application/octet-stream, not multipart/form-data | | Using GET instead of POST | All three endpoints use POST | | Missing source_type in convert request | Always include "source_type": "pdf" | | Missing output_mode in convert request | Always include "output_mode": "file_id" to get a downloadable file_id |

Error Handling

Check each step before proceeding:

# After upload
if [ -z "$IN_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$IN_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Upload failed"; exit 1
fi

# After convert
if [ -z "$OUT_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$OUT_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Conversion failed"; exit 1
fi