Batch Convert Skill Overview This skill enables batch conversion of documents between multiple formats using a unified pipeline. Convert hundreds of files at once with consistent settings, automatic format detection, and parallel processing for maximum efficiency. How to Use Specify the source folder or files Choose target format(s) Optionally configure conversion options I'll process all files with progress tracking Example prompts: "Convert all PDFs in this folder to Word documents" "Batch convert these markdown files to PDF and HTML" "Process all Office files and convert to Markdown" "Convert this folder of images to a single PDF" Domain Knowledge Supported Format Matrix From To: DOCX To: PDF To: MD To: HTML To: PPTX DOCX - ✅ ✅ ✅ - PDF ✅ - ✅ ✅ - MD ✅ ✅ - ✅ ✅ HTML ✅ ✅ ✅ - - XLSX - ✅ ✅ ✅ - PPTX - ✅ ✅ ✅ - Core Pipeline from pathlib import Path from concurrent . futures import ThreadPoolExecutor , as_completed import subprocess import os class DocumentConverter : """Unified document conversion pipeline.""" def init ( self , max_workers = 4 ) : self . max_workers = max_workers self . converters = { ( 'md' , 'docx' ) : self . _md_to_docx , ( 'md' , 'pdf' ) : self . _md_to_pdf , ( 'md' , 'html' ) : self . _md_to_html , ( 'md' , 'pptx' ) : self . _md_to_pptx , ( 'docx' , 'pdf' ) : self . _docx_to_pdf , ( 'docx' , 'md' ) : self . _docx_to_md , ( 'pdf' , 'docx' ) : self . _pdf_to_docx , ( 'pdf' , 'md' ) : self . _pdf_to_md , ( 'xlsx' , 'pdf' ) : self . _xlsx_to_pdf , ( 'xlsx' , 'md' ) : self . _xlsx_to_md , ( 'pptx' , 'pdf' ) : self . _pptx_to_pdf , ( 'pptx' , 'md' ) : self . _pptx_to_md , ( 'html' , 'md' ) : self . _html_to_md , ( 'html' , 'pdf' ) : self . _html_to_pdf , } def convert ( self , input_path , output_format , output_dir = None ) : """Convert single file to target format.""" input_path = Path ( input_path ) input_format = input_path . suffix [ 1 : ] . lower ( ) if output_dir : output_path = Path ( output_dir ) / f" { input_path . stem } . { output_format } " else : output_path = input_path . with_suffix ( f". { output_format } " ) converter_key = ( input_format , output_format ) if converter_key not in self . converters : raise ValueError ( f"Conversion not supported: { input_format } -> { output_format } " ) converter = self . converters [ converter_key ] return converter ( input_path , output_path ) def batch_convert ( self , input_dir , output_format , output_dir = None , file_pattern = "*" , recursive = False ) : """Batch convert all matching files.""" input_path = Path ( input_dir ) output_path = Path ( output_dir ) if output_dir else input_path / "converted" output_path . mkdir ( exist_ok = True )
Find files
if recursive : files = list ( input_path . rglob ( file_pattern ) ) else : files = list ( input_path . glob ( file_pattern ) )
Filter to supported formats
supported_ext
[ '.md' , '.docx' , '.pdf' , '.xlsx' , '.pptx' , '.html' ] files = [ f for f in files if f . suffix . lower ( ) in supported_ext ] results = [ ] with ThreadPoolExecutor ( max_workers = self . max_workers ) as executor : future_to_file = { executor . submit ( self . convert , f , output_format , output_path ) : f for f in files } for future in as_completed ( future_to_file ) : file = future_to_file [ future ] try : result = future . result ( ) results . append ( { 'file' : str ( file ) , 'status' : 'success' , 'output' : str ( result ) } ) except Exception as e : results . append ( { 'file' : str ( file ) , 'status' : 'error' , 'error' : str ( e ) } ) return results Converter Implementations
Markdown conversions (using Pandoc)
def _md_to_docx ( self , input_path , output_path ) : subprocess . run ( [ 'pandoc' , str ( input_path ) , '-o' , str ( output_path ) ] , check = True ) return output_path def _md_to_pdf ( self , input_path , output_path ) : subprocess . run ( [ 'pandoc' , str ( input_path ) , '-o' , str ( output_path ) ] , check = True ) return output_path def _md_to_html ( self , input_path , output_path ) : subprocess . run ( [ 'pandoc' , str ( input_path ) , '-s' , '-o' , str ( output_path ) ] , check = True ) return output_path def _md_to_pptx ( self , input_path , output_path ) : subprocess . run ( [ 'marp' , str ( input_path ) , '-o' , str ( output_path ) ] , check = True ) return output_path
Office to Markdown (using markitdown)
def _docx_to_md ( self , input_path , output_path ) : from markitdown import MarkItDown md = MarkItDown ( ) result = md . convert ( str ( input_path ) ) with open ( output_path , 'w' ) as f : f . write ( result . text_content ) return output_path def _xlsx_to_md ( self , input_path , output_path ) : from markitdown import MarkItDown md = MarkItDown ( ) result = md . convert ( str ( input_path ) ) with open ( output_path , 'w' ) as f : f . write ( result . text_content ) return output_path def _pptx_to_md ( self , input_path , output_path ) : from markitdown import MarkItDown md = MarkItDown ( ) result = md . convert ( str ( input_path ) ) with open ( output_path , 'w' ) as f : f . write ( result . text_content ) return output_path
PDF conversions
def _pdf_to_docx ( self , input_path , output_path ) : from pdf2docx import Converter cv = Converter ( str ( input_path ) ) cv . convert ( str ( output_path ) ) cv . close ( ) return output_path def _pdf_to_md ( self , input_path , output_path ) : from markitdown import MarkItDown md = MarkItDown ( ) result = md . convert ( str ( input_path ) ) with open ( output_path , 'w' ) as f : f . write ( result . text_content ) return output_path
Office to PDF (using LibreOffice)
- def
- _docx_to_pdf
- (
- self
- ,
- input_path
- ,
- output_path
- )
- :
- subprocess
- .
- run
- (
- [
- 'soffice'
- ,
- '--headless'
- ,
- '--convert-to'
- ,
- 'pdf'
- ,
- '--outdir'
- ,
- str
- (
- output_path
- .
- parent
- )
- ,
- str
- (
- input_path
- )
- ]
- ,
- check
- =
- True
- )
- return
- output_path
- def
- _xlsx_to_pdf
- (
- self
- ,
- input_path
- ,
- output_path
- )
- :
- subprocess
- .
- run
- (
- [
- 'soffice'
- ,
- '--headless'
- ,
- '--convert-to'
- ,
- 'pdf'
- ,
- '--outdir'
- ,
- str
- (
- output_path
- .
- parent
- )
- ,
- str
- (
- input_path
- )
- ]
- ,
- check
- =
- True
- )
- return
- output_path
- def
- _pptx_to_pdf
- (
- self
- ,
- input_path
- ,
- output_path
- )
- :
- subprocess
- .
- run
- (
- [
- 'soffice'
- ,
- '--headless'
- ,
- '--convert-to'
- ,
- 'pdf'
- ,
- '--outdir'
- ,
- str
- (
- output_path
- .
- parent
- )
- ,
- str
- (
- input_path
- )
- ]
- ,
- check
- =
- True
- )
- return
- output_path
- Progress Tracking
- from
- tqdm
- import
- tqdm
- def
- batch_convert_with_progress
- (
- converter
- ,
- input_dir
- ,
- output_format
- ,
- output_dir
- =
- None
- )
- :
- """Batch convert with progress bar."""
- input_path
- =
- Path
- (
- input_dir
- )
- files
- =
- list
- (
- input_path
- .
- glob
- (
- '*'
- )
- )
- results
- =
- [
- ]
- for
- file
- in
- tqdm
- (
- files
- ,
- desc
- =
- f"Converting to
- {
- output_format
- }
- "
- )
- :
- try
- :
- result
- =
- converter
- .
- convert
- (
- file
- ,
- output_format
- ,
- output_dir
- )
- results
- .
- append
- (
- {
- 'file'
- :
- str
- (
- file
- )
- ,
- 'status'
- :
- 'success'
- }
- )
- except
- Exception
- as
- e
- :
- results
- .
- append
- (
- {
- 'file'
- :
- str
- (
- file
- )
- ,
- 'status'
- :
- 'error'
- ,
- 'error'
- :
- str
- (
- e
- )
- }
- )
- return
- results
- Best Practices
- Test Sample First
-
- Convert a few files before batch processing
- Check Disk Space
-
- Ensure sufficient space for output
- Use Parallel Processing
-
- Speed up with multiple workers
- Handle Errors Gracefully
-
- Log failures, continue processing
- Verify Output
- Spot-check converted files Common Patterns Format Detection Pipeline def detect_and_convert ( file_path , target_format ) : """Automatically detect format and convert.""" import mimetypes mime_type , _ = mimetypes . guess_type ( str ( file_path ) ) format_map = { 'application/pdf' : 'pdf' , 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document' : 'docx' , 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' : 'xlsx' , 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation' : 'pptx' , 'text/markdown' : 'md' , 'text/html' : 'html' , } source_format = format_map . get ( mime_type , Path ( file_path ) . suffix [ 1 : ] ) converter = DocumentConverter ( ) return converter . convert ( file_path , target_format ) Multi-Format Output def convert_to_multiple_formats ( input_file , output_formats , output_dir ) : """Convert one file to multiple formats.""" converter = DocumentConverter ( ) results = { } for fmt in output_formats : try : output = converter . convert ( input_file , fmt , output_dir ) results [ fmt ] = { 'status' : 'success' , 'path' : str ( output ) } except Exception as e : results [ fmt ] = { 'status' : 'error' , 'error' : str ( e ) } return results
Convert README to multiple formats
results
convert_to_multiple_formats ( 'README.md' , [ 'docx' , 'pdf' , 'html' ] , './exports' ) Examples Example 1: Documentation Export from pathlib import Path import json def export_documentation ( docs_dir , export_dir ) : """Export all documentation to multiple formats.""" converter = DocumentConverter ( max_workers = 8 ) docs_path = Path ( docs_dir ) export_path = Path ( export_dir )
Create format directories
for fmt in [ 'pdf' , 'docx' , 'html' ] : ( export_path / fmt ) . mkdir ( parents = True , exist_ok = True ) all_results = { }
Find all markdown files
md_files
list ( docs_path . rglob ( '*.md' ) ) for md_file in md_files : file_results = { } for fmt in [ 'pdf' , 'docx' , 'html' ] : output_dir = export_path / fmt try : output = converter . convert ( md_file , fmt , output_dir ) file_results [ fmt ] = 'success' except Exception as e : file_results [ fmt ] = f'error: { e } ' all_results [ str ( md_file ) ] = file_results print ( f"Processed: { md_file . name } " )
Save report
with open ( export_path / 'export_report.json' , 'w' ) as f : json . dump ( all_results , f , indent = 2 ) return all_results results = export_documentation ( './docs' , './exports' ) Example 2: Legacy Document Migration def migrate_legacy_docs ( source_dir , target_dir ) : """Migrate legacy documents to modern formats.""" converter = DocumentConverter ( max_workers = 4 )
Migration rules
migrations
[ ( '*.doc' , 'docx' ) ,
Old Word to new
( '*.xls' , 'xlsx' ) ,
Old Excel to new
( '*.ppt' , 'pptx' ) ,
Old PowerPoint to new
( '*.rtf' , 'docx' ) ,
RTF to Word
] source_path = Path ( source_dir ) target_path = Path ( target_dir ) target_path . mkdir ( exist_ok = True ) total_migrated = 0 errors = [ ] for pattern , target_format in migrations : files = list ( source_path . glob ( pattern ) ) for file in files : try :
Use LibreOffice for legacy formats
subprocess . run ( [ 'soffice' , '--headless' , '--convert-to' , target_format , '--outdir' , str ( target_path ) , str ( file ) ] , check = True ) total_migrated += 1 print ( f"Migrated: { file . name } " ) except Exception as e : errors . append ( { 'file' : str ( file ) , 'error' : str ( e ) } ) print ( f"\nMigration complete: { total_migrated } files" ) print ( f"Errors: { len ( errors ) } " ) return { 'migrated' : total_migrated , 'errors' : errors } Example 3: Report Generation Pipeline def generate_reports_pipeline ( data_files , template_dir , output_dir ) : """Generate reports from data files using templates.""" from datetime import datetime converter = DocumentConverter ( ) output_path = Path ( output_dir ) output_path . mkdir ( exist_ok = True ) timestamp = datetime . now ( ) . strftime ( '%Y%m%d_%H%M%S' ) reports = [ ] for data_file in data_files :
Load data
data_path
Path ( data_file )
Generate markdown report
md_content
f"""--- title: Report - { data_path . stem } date: { datetime . now ( ) . strftime ( '%Y-%m-%d' ) }
{ data_path . stem } Report Generated: { datetime . now ( ) . strftime ( '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S' ) }
Data Summary
"""
Add data content (simplified)
if data_path . suffix == '.xlsx' : from markitdown import MarkItDown md = MarkItDown ( ) result = md . convert ( str ( data_path ) ) md_content += result . text_content
Save markdown
md_file
output_path / f" { data_path . stem } _ { timestamp } .md" with open ( md_file , 'w' ) as f : f . write ( md_content )
Convert to PDF and DOCX
for fmt in [ 'pdf' , 'docx' ] : try : output = converter . convert ( md_file , fmt , output_path ) reports . append ( { 'source' : str ( data_file ) , 'output' : str ( output ) , 'format' : fmt } ) except Exception as e : print ( f"Error converting { data_file } to { fmt } : { e } " ) return reports Limitations Some format combinations not supported Complex formatting may be lost in conversion Large files may require more time Some conversions need external tools (LibreOffice, Pandoc) Quality varies by source document complexity Installation
Core dependencies
pip install pdf2docx markitdown python-docx openpyxl
Pandoc (for MD conversions)
brew install pandoc
macOS
apt install pandoc
Ubuntu
Marp (for PPTX)
npm install -g @marp-team/marp-cli
LibreOffice (for Office formats)
brew install libreoffice
macOS
apt install libreoffice
Ubuntu
Resources Pandoc Documentation markitdown GitHub pdf2docx Documentation LibreOffice CLI