The "open DOCX" use case

Receive a .docx by email or messaging app on a device without Word — iPad, Linux laptop, work-issued Chromebook, friend's computer. Need to read what's inside, maybe quote a section, maybe forward the content to ChatGPT for help. Standard answer is "install Office or LibreOffice" or "upload to Google Drive", but both involve account or install friction. mdisbetter opens the file in seconds with no account and no install — drop the .docx, see the content as Markdown, copy what you need.

Markdown view, not pixel-exact rendering

Browser-based DOCX viewers that try to replicate Word's pixel-exact layout (microsoft.com/office-online viewers, OnlyOffice, etc.) work but are heavy — large JS bundles, slow load times. mdisbetter's view is the document's content as Markdown: faithful to the words, headings, lists, tables, and images, just not pixel-identical to Word's rendering. For the read-and-quote use case, that's actually better — Markdown is more readable in a browser than emulated Word layout.

Then download as .md or convert further

Once the document is open as Markdown in your browser, download it as a .md file (good for archival, AI input, dropping into Obsidian/Notion). Or copy sections to paste elsewhere. Or feed the whole thing to ChatGPT directly. Use Word to Markdown for the full conversion workflow.