Markdown cares about styles, not vibes
Bigger bold text in Word looks like an H1. After conversion it often becomes a normal paragraph wrapped in **. Converters follow Heading 1 / Heading 2 styles, not visual cosplay.
Before you convert, apply real heading styles in Word. Two minutes with the style brush beats hand-fixing a hundred # marks later.
A conversion pass that doesn’t lie to you
① Fix styles and outline. ② Run Word↔Markdown. ③ Open Markdown Preview: skipped levels (H1 then H3), broken lists, wrecked tables.
Floating images in Word often become missing links in MD. Export important figures into /images in the repo and write relative paths. When someone refuses to read Markdown, convert MD → PDF as a handoff, not as your source of truth.
The other direction: MD back to Word
When a teammate only accepts docx, convert Markdown → Word with the same tool. Custom shortcodes and raw HTML blocks may drop — open the docx once and skim.
Processing stays in the browser, so you’re not shipping the draft to a random “online converter” company. Sensitive docs still belong on your own machine or approved suite. Convenience isn’t a clearance level.