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|
+++
date = 2024-04-06
title = "Convert OneNote to Markdown or Org-Mode"
description = ""
draft = false
+++
If you\'re looking to convert your OneNote content to another format,
such as Markdown or Org-Mode, you\'re in luck. I use a solution that
doesn\'t require other programs, such as Evernote or Notion. Personally,
I used this solution on a managed corporate laptop that doesn\'t allow
installation of other programs like these.
This solution uses OneNote and Pandoc on Windows 10.
# Export OneNote Content to Word
To start, export any pages or tabs from OneNote to the Word format
(`.docx`):
1. Open OneNote desktop.
2. Select `File` and then `Export`.
3. Select the scope of content to export, such as `Tab` or
`Page`.
4. Name and save the file in an easy to remember location. I recommend
your Downloads or Desktop folder.
See below for a visual walkthrough of the export process.
# Download Pandoc
Start by downloading Pandoc from their [GitHub
releases](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/releases) page. I cannot install
`.msi` files on my corporate laptop, so I downloaded the
`pandoc-3.1.12.3-windows-x86_64.zip` file, which contains a
simple `.exe` file that you do not need to install - you will
simply run it from the command line below.
Once downloaded, unzip the archive and move the `pandoc.exe`
file to the same folder where your Word documents were saved above. If
you prefer, you can move this file to an easier location, such as
`C:\Users\youruser\Downloads`.
# Convert Word to Markdown
In this example, I will be converting the Word documents to Markdown,
but Pandoc supports [a ton of different formats for
conversion](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc?tab=readme-ov-file#the-universal-markup-converter).
Choose the format you prefer and then modify the following commands as
needed.
To perform the conversion, open the Command Prompt. If you can\'t find
it, open the start menu and search for it.
Within the command prompt, navigate to the directory where you stored
the `pandoc.exe` file and the Word documents.
```ps1
cd "C:\Users\yourusername\Downloads"
```
You can verify that you\'re in the correct directory with the
`dir` command.
```ps1
dir
```
Once you have verified that you have the command prompt open in the
correct directory with the `pandoc.exe` and the Word
documents, you can run the following loop to convert all Word documents
to Markdown.
```ps1
for %f in (*.docx) do (pandoc.exe --extract-media=. --wrap=preserve "%f" -o "%f.md")
```
This loop will perform the following actions:
1. Find all documents matching the pattern `*.docx`, which
means all Word documents ending with that file extension.
2. Iterate through all files found in step 1.
3. For each file, perform the pandoc command.
4. Within the pandoc command, `--extract-media` saves all
media found in the files to the current folder, with pandoc
automatically creating a `media` subfolder to hold all
images.
5. Within the pandoc command, `--wrap=preserve` will attempt
to prseerve the wrapping from the source document.
6. Within the pandoc command, the final step is to specify the output
path with `-o`. This option adds the `.md`
file extension to recognize the output files as Markdown files.
If you want to export to another format, simply specify the
`-f=`/`--from=` and `-t=`/`--to=` options.
For example, you can convert the Word document to org-mode. You can also
convert to one format and subsequently convert to other formats as
needed.
```ps1
pandoc.exe -f docx -t org file.docx
```
|
