Support

Markdown Ready Support

Markdown Ready is a private, on-device document compiler for macOS. It converts PDFs, scanned pages, and document images into durable Markdown and optional JSON files that you can inspect, edit, archive, and reuse.

Why Markdown Ready?

Direct PDF chat and Markdown Ready solve different jobs. Direct chat is ideal for a quick question or summary. Markdown Ready is for converting once, keeping the result, and reusing the same local document artifact across services and tools.

PDF once, then ask

Direct PDF chat

Fast and convenient for questions, summaries, and interactive reasoning.

Markdown Ready

Adds a conversion step before you work with the document.

Keep a durable result

Direct PDF chat

Answers stay inside a conversation and may vary with the prompt or service.

Markdown Ready

Creates reusable .md and optional .json files in a folder you choose.

Choose where processing happens

Direct PDF chat

The document is sent to a cloud service for processing.

Markdown Ready

Bundled OCR models process selected documents locally on your Mac.

Run batches and long jobs

Direct PDF chat

File, context, policy, and usage limits depend on the service.

Markdown Ready

Processes local files or a flat-folder batch and uses ten-page chunks for PDFs.

See what needs review

Direct PDF chat

Processing and recovery behavior are managed by the service.

Markdown Ready

Retains clean chunk checkpoints and reports page-level failures or quality warnings.

Reuse across tools

Direct PDF chat

You may need to upload the source again or retain it in a service project.

Markdown Ready

The same Markdown can move between chat, local models, notes, wikis, RAG, and archives.

Quick Start

Open Markdown Ready from the menu bar.
Under Engine, choose GLM-OCR or PaddleOCR-VL.
Under Input, select a PDF, JPG/JPEG, PNG, or folder. You can also drag supported files into the menu-bar window. Use Save To for the destination.
Choose Markdown and optional JSON, turn Tables on if needed, and set Existing behavior.
Press Start; use Stop to cancel an active conversion.
Use Output to review generated files.
About shows product and license information; Quit closes the app.

Supported Inputs

PDF
JPG/JPEG
PNG
Folders containing supported document files

Supported Outputs

Markdown (.md)
Optional JSON sidecar (.json)

One-Time Folder Batches

Choose an input folder and a Save To folder, then press Start. Markdown Ready enumerates supported files directly inside the input folder and processes that flat list once.

Subfolders are not traversed.
The app does not watch or poll the folder after the run starts or completes.
Use Existing to choose whether matching output is skipped or overwritten.

Performance And Power

Markdown Ready runs local OCR on your Mac. The supported target is an Apple Silicon Mac with 16 GB unified memory or more; 8 GB Macs are not currently validated or supported for the bundled vision-language models. Large PDFs, image-heavy documents, and folder batches can use sustained CPU/GPU and unified memory. For long conversions, connect your Mac to power and avoid closing the lid.

Accuracy And Review

OCR output can contain mistakes. Complex tables, equations, handwriting, poor scans, screenshots, rotated pages, and tiny text need review. Markdown Ready prepares documents for reuse; it does not verify facts or replace human judgment.

Privacy

The app processes selected documents locally and does not upload document contents to a cloud OCR API. Settings, selected folder access bookmarks, and local conversion history are stored on your Mac. Review the Markdown Ready Privacy Policy for details.

Troubleshooting

The app cannot access a folder after relaunch

Choose the input/output folder again from the app so macOS can refresh the user-selected folder permission.

Conversion is slow

Large documents can take time because OCR runs locally. Try a smaller test file first, keep the Mac connected to power, and avoid running other heavy workloads at the same time.

Output is missing a table or formula

Turn Tables on, convert again, and review the output. Very complex tables and formulas may still need manual correction.

I do not see a new file in the output folder

Confirm that an output folder is selected, the source file type is supported, and the app has permission to access both folders.

Questions And Answers

Why not upload the PDF directly to an AI chat?

That is often the best choice for a quick question or summary. Use Markdown Ready when you want local processing, a durable Markdown/JSON artifact, a repeatable batch workflow, or output that can move between different services and local tools.

What happens when one page cannot be converted reliably?

Page-local OCR problems normally do not discard the rest of the PDF. Markdown Ready continues, marks the affected page in the output, and writes a page issue report. Model, file-access, cancellation, and output-transaction failures still stop safely.

Can a long conversion resume?

PDFs use ten-page processing chunks. Clean completed chunks are checkpointed during an interrupted conversion and can be reused when the source and conversion settings still match. Chunks with warnings or incomplete output are processed again.

Why can the first conversion take longer?

The selected local OCR model must load before page processing begins. The app shows model-loading and page progress, and later conversions with the same engine may start sooner while the model remains available. Timing varies by Mac, page count, page layout, and engine, so a fixed minutes-per-document estimate would be misleading.

Does Markdown Ready support an 8 GB Mac?

Not as a supported release configuration. Use an Apple Silicon Mac with 16 GB unified memory or more. The bundled vision-language models can put significant pressure on an 8 GB system, and that configuration has not completed the release validation gate.

Is Markdown Ready more accurate than a cloud AI?

They serve different purposes, and no general accuracy advantage is claimed. Cloud AI can be excellent at understanding and explanation. Markdown Ready focuses on source-grounded, inspectable document conversion. OCR remains best-effort, especially for dense tables, formulas, handwriting, and poor scans.

Does Markdown Ready upload documents or require an account?

No. The app uses bundled local OCR models, does not require an account, and does not upload document contents to a cloud OCR API.

Does Markdown Ready bypass copyright restrictions?

No. Markdown Ready is a local file-conversion tool, not a rights-clearing service. Process only documents you are authorized to use and follow applicable copyright and other laws.

What is the main tradeoff?

Local OCR adds a preprocessing step, takes time, and can use sustained Mac resources. In return, you keep an inspectable output file that is independent of any one chat or cloud service.

Contact

For support, contact support@hydromo.dev. Include your macOS version, Mac model, Markdown Ready version/build, input file type, page count, and a short description of the issue. Do not send sensitive documents unless you intentionally choose to share them.