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". mdisbetter opens the file in seconds with no install: sign in to your free account, 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.