ToWord

Export your Obsidian markdown files to Microsoft Word (docx) format with full text styling, syntax highlighting, and complete mobile support. Files are saved directly in your vault for easy access across all platforms including iOS and Android.

🎉 Version 1.4.0 - Major Mobile Update!

This version includes a complete rewrite for mobile compatibility:

• True iOS Support: Resolved Buffer API incompatibilities that prevented mobile usage
• Enhanced Syntax Highlighting: Professional VS Code Default Light color scheme
• Universal Compatibility: Works seamlessly on iPhone, iPad, Android, and desktop
• Improved Code Processing: Better HTML entity handling and nested formatting

Features

• Full Markdown Support: Converts headings, lists, tables, code blocks, blockquotes, and more
• Text Styling: Preserves bold, italic, strikethrough, highlights, and inline code
• Obsidian Appearance Matching: Automatically uses your Obsidian fonts and sizes
• Professional Code Formatting: Syntax highlighting with VS Code Default Light colors
• Tables: Exports markdown tables with proper formatting and alignment
• Images: Supports both standard markdown and Obsidian-style embedded images
• Hyperlinks: Clickable links with proper styling
• Page Sizes: Choose from A4, A5, A3, Letter, Legal, or Tabloid
• Vault Integration: Saves files directly in your vault (not browser downloads)
• Flexible Output: Choose where to save - same folder, vault root, or custom folder
• Configurable: Settings panel to customize export behavior
• Mobile Optimized: Full functionality on iOS, Android, and all desktop platforms
• Multiple Export Options:
• Ribbon icon for quick export
• Command palette integration
• Right-click context menu on files

Installation

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release from the releases page
2. Extract the files to your vault's plugins folder: <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/to-word/
3. Reload Obsidian
4. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins

Development Installation

1. Clone this repository into your vault's plugins folder
2. Run npm install to install dependencies
3. Run npm run dev to start compilation in watch mode
4. Reload Obsidian
5. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins

Usage

Export Current File

1. Using Ribbon Icon: Click the document icon in the left ribbon
2. Using Command Palette: Press Ctrl/Cmd + P and search for "Export current file to Word"
3. Using Context Menu: Right-click on a markdown file and select "Export to Word"

The exported Word document will be saved in your vault according to your output location settings.

Settings

Access plugin settings via Settings → ToWord:

• Default Font Family: Set the default font for exported documents (default: Calibri)
• Default Font Size: Set the default font size in points (default: 11)
• Include Metadata: Choose whether to include frontmatter metadata in exports
• Preserve Formatting: Toggle markdown formatting preservation (bold, italic, etc.)
• Use Obsidian Appearance: Automatically match your Obsidian theme's appearance
  • When enabled: Reads your actual Obsidian settings including:
    • Text font family from your theme
    • Monospace font for code blocks (with fallback to Courier New)
    • Base font size (e.g., 16pt if that's your setting)
    • Heading sizes that scale proportionally with your text size
    • Line height and spacing
  • When disabled: Uses standard Word document sizes with your custom settings
  • Smart detection: Adapts to theme changes and font size adjustments
• Include Filename as Header: Add the filename as an H1 heading at the top of the document
• Page Size: Choose document page size (default: A4)
  • A4 (210 × 297 mm)
  • A5 (148 × 210 mm)
  • A3 (297 × 420 mm)
  • Letter (8.5 × 11 inches)
  • Legal (8.5 × 14 inches)
  • Tabloid (11 × 17 inches)
• Output Location: Choose where to save exported files:
  • Same folder as markdown file: Keeps exports next to source files
  • Vault root: Saves all exports to the vault root directory
  • Custom folder: Saves to a specified folder within your vault
• Custom Output Folder: Specify the folder path when using custom folder option (e.g., "Exports" or "Documents/Word")

Supported Markdown Features

Text Formatting

• ✅ Bold (**text**)
• ✅ Italic (*text*)
• ✅ Bold Italic (***text***)
• ✅ Strikethrough (~~text~~)
• ✅ ==Highlight== (==text==)
• ✅ Inline code (`code`) - Bold Courier New with background
• ✅ Underline (via HTML <u>)
• ✅ Superscript and Subscript (via HTML <sup>, <sub>)

Structure

• ✅ Headings (H1-H6) with proper styling
• ✅ Paragraphs with line spacing
• ✅ Horizontal rules (---, ***, ___)
• ✅ Line breaks (two trailing spaces)
• ✅ Blockquotes (with nesting support)

Lists

• ✅ Ordered lists (numbered)
• ✅ Unordered lists (bullets)
• ✅ Nested lists (up to 3 levels)
• ✅ Task lists (- [ ] and - [x]) - rendered as ☐ and ☑

Code

• ✅ Inline code with monospace font and background
• ✅ Fenced code blocks with language support
• ✅ Professional syntax highlighting with VS Code Default Light color scheme
• ✅ Courier New Bold font for all code
• ✅ Proper HTML entity handling for special characters

Tables

• ✅ Standard markdown tables
• ✅ Column alignment (left, center, right)
• ✅ Header row styling
• ✅ Fixed column widths

Links & References

• ✅ Inline links ([text](url))
• ✅ Titled links ([text](url "title"))
• ✅ Clickable hyperlinks in Word
• ✅ Footnotes ([^1]) with superscript references

Images

• ✅ Standard markdown images (![alt](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pixerojan/obsidian-toword/HEAD/url))
• ✅ Obsidian embedded images (![[image.png]])
• ✅ Resizer Plugin Integration: Automatically respects custom image sizes
  • ![[image.png|447]] - Width specification (maintains aspect ratio)
  • ![[image.png|447x300]] - Exact width and height
  • ![alt](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pixerojan/obsidian-toword/HEAD/url|447) - Standard markdown with size
• ✅ Image formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF, SVG
• ✅ Remote images (http/https URLs)
• ✅ Local vault images
• ✅ Auto-sizing: Large images (>600px) are automatically scaled to fit

Limitations

• ❌ PDF embeds are skipped (Word cannot embed PDF files)
• ⚠️ Task list checkboxes are static (not interactive in Word)
• ⚠️ Collapsible sections are always expanded (Word doesn't support interactive collapse)

Platform Support

• ✅ Windows: Fully supported - saves to vault
• ✅ macOS: Fully supported - saves to vault
• ✅ Linux: Fully supported - saves to vault
• ✅ iOS/iPadOS: Fully supported - Native compatibility with fflate library
• ✅ Android: Fully supported - Native compatibility with fflate library

NEW in v1.4.0: Complete mobile compatibility rewrite! Previous versions had Buffer API issues on iOS - now resolved with native JavaScript implementation. All platforms save the exported Word document directly to your vault according to your output location settings. No browser downloads!

Development

Building

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Development mode (watch)
npm run dev

# Production build
npm run build

Project Structure

• main.ts - Main plugin file with Obsidian integration
• converter.ts - Markdown to DOCX conversion logic
• manifest.json - Plugin manifest
• esbuild.config.mjs - Build configuration

Technologies Used

• Obsidian API
• fflate - Fast, native JavaScript ZIP library (mobile-optimized)
• highlight.js - Syntax highlighting with VS Code Default Light theme
• esbuild - Fast JavaScript bundler
• TypeScript

v1.4.0 Update: Replaced JSZip with fflate for true mobile compatibility and better performance.

License

MIT

Support

If you encounter any issues or have feature requests, please file them in the GitHub issues section.

Credits

Created with ❤️ for the Obsidian community.