PDF to Markdown for Docusaurus: Modern Docs from Legacy PDFs
Docusaurus is React-flavoured documentation: Markdown content with MDX components, automatic sidebars, version branching, search out of the box. Migrating PDF docs into it gives you all of those features on content that was previously a static download link.
Markdown vs MDX in Docusaurus
Docusaurus accepts both .md and .mdx files. Plain Markdown is enough for converted PDF content; MDX (Markdown with embedded React components) is useful when you want to enrich migrated content with interactive widgets, callouts, or embedded demos. Convert to Markdown first; promote to MDX selectively when needed.
Sidebar and versioning
Docusaurus auto-generates a sidebar from your docs/ folder structure if you don't define one explicitly. For converted PDFs, an explicit sidebars.js usually beats auto-generation: you can group migrated content separately ("Legacy docs") and curate the order. For versioned docs (Docusaurus's killer feature for API references), commit your converted content to versioned_docs/version-X.Y/ after running npm run docusaurus docs:version X.Y.
Frequently asked questions
Markdown vs MDX: which should I use for converted PDFs?
Plain Markdown for the bulk of converted content: it's simpler and the converter outputs Markdown directly. MDX when you want to add React components (interactive demos, custom callouts) on top of converted content. You can promote a file from .md to .mdx anytime.
How do I configure sidebars.js for migrated content?
Either add the new files to your existing sidebars.js (most flexibility), or rely on auto-generation by saving them with consistent prefixes that sort correctly. Most teams pick explicit sidebars.js once they have more than ~20 docs.
Can I version converted documentation in Docusaurus?
Yes: that's Docusaurus's flagship feature. Convert your PDFs, place them under docs/, then run npm run docusaurus docs:version 1.0 to snapshot the current state into versioned_docs/version-1.0/. Future edits stay on the unversioned branch.
How do I add admonitions to converted content?
Docusaurus supports :::note, :::tip, :::warning, :::danger blocks. Add them after conversion where the original PDF used callouts or sidebar boxes: the converter passes them through verbatim, so there's no risk of double-rendering.
Does Docusaurus search work on converted Markdown?
Yes: both the local search plugin and Algolia DocSearch index converted content the same way they index hand-written content. Headings become section anchors, and search results jump directly to the relevant section.