What is PasteMD?

PasteMD is a cross-platform smart Markdown converter designed to solve the problem of format loss and formula corruption when copying content from AI conversation websites (like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Kimi, etc.) to Word/WPS.

The Core Problem

When you copy Markdown-formatted content from AI websites and paste it directly into Word, you encounter:

• Garbled Math Formulas: $E=mc^2$ becomes plain text, complex formulas are completely unreadable
• Lost Formatting: Bold, italic, code blocks, and other formatting all disappear
• Messy Tables: Markdown tables need manual adjustment after pasting
• Code Display Issues: Code blocks lack syntax highlighting and display incorrectly

PasteMD's Solution

PasteMD provides an elegant solution:

1. One-Key Conversion: Press hotkey (default Ctrl+Shift+B) to automatically convert and insert
2. Smart Recognition: Automatically detects clipboard content type and current application
3. Perfect Formatting: Math formulas, code blocks, tables rendered perfectly
4. Seamless Integration: Content inserted directly at cursor position, no manual steps needed

How It Works

graph LR
    A[Copy Markdown] --> B[Press Hotkey]
    B --> C[Read Clipboard]
    C --> D[Preprocess Content]
    D --> E[Pandoc Convert]
    E --> F[Insert to App]
    F --> G[Done!]

PasteMD's core workflow:

1. Listen for Hotkey: Global monitoring of custom hotkey
2. Read Clipboard: Get Markdown, HTML, or file paths
3. Preprocess: Normalize format, process formulas, clean HTML
4. Pandoc Conversion: Call Pandoc to convert to DOCX or XLSX format
5. Application Insert: Insert to target app via platform-specific APIs

Supported Platforms and Applications

Windows

• ✅ Microsoft Word (via COM Automation)
• ✅ Microsoft Excel (via COM Automation)
• ✅ WPS Writer (via COM Automation)
• ✅ WPS Spreadsheet (via COM Automation)

macOS

• ✅ Microsoft Word (via AppleScript)
• ✅ Microsoft Excel (via AppleScript)
• ✅ WPS Writer (via Clipboard Rich Text)
• ✅ WPS Spreadsheet (via Clipboard)

macOS Note

The macOS version uses different technical approaches and requires additional system permissions. See macOS Guide for details.

Key Features

🎯 Smart Content Recognition

Automatically detects clipboard content type:

• Markdown Text: Standard Markdown syntax
• HTML Rich Text: Content copied from web pages
• Markdown Tables: Auto-detected and converted to Excel
• .md Files: Files copied from file manager

📐 Perfect Math Formula Support

• Supports inline formulas: $...$
• Supports block formulas: $$...$$
• Auto-fixes common LaTeX syntax issues
• Compatible with formula formats from popular AI websites

📊 Table Format Preservation

Completely preserves formatting when pasting to Excel:

• Bold: **text**
• Italic: *text*
• Strikethrough: ~~text~~
• Inline Code: `code`
• Code Blocks: ```code```
• Hyperlinks: [text](url)

🎨 Highly Customizable

• Custom global hotkey
• Custom style templates (reference DOCX)
• Custom Pandoc filters
• Custom save directory and file retention policy
• Multi-language support (Chinese/English)

🔄 Smart Fallback Mode

When no target application is detected, you can:

• Auto-Open: Automatically launch Word and insert content
• Save Only: Save as file to specified directory
• Copy to Clipboard: Convert to rich text and copy to clipboard
• No Action: Just show notification

Technical Architecture

PasteMD uses a layered architecture design:

• Presentation Layer: Tray menu, hotkey settings, permission management UI
• Service Layer: Document generation, spreadsheet generation, preprocessors, notification service
• Core Layer: Workflow routing, application detection, clipboard operations
• Integration Layer: Pandoc integration, platform-specific APIs

Dependencies

• Pandoc: Powerful document conversion engine (required)
• Python 3.12+: Runtime environment
• Platform-Specific Libraries: pywin32 (Windows), pyobjc (macOS)

License

PasteMD is open source under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute it.

Next Steps

• Getting Started - Start using PasteMD now
• Installation - Detailed installation steps
• macOS Guide - macOS-specific instructions