> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pdf4llm.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Saving Output

> Write extracted Markdown, JSON, and plain text to disk using pathlib.

<div id="apiIndicatorBadge">
  <div class="inner pymupdf" />
</div>

## Overview

PyMuPDF4LLM's extraction functions return strings or Python objects — writing them to disk is handled by standard Python. The recommended approach is `pathlib.Path`, which is clean, cross-platform, and available in the standard library with no additional dependencies.

***

## Saving Markdown

```python theme={null}
import pymupdf4llm
from pathlib import Path

md_text = pymupdf4llm.to_markdown("document.pdf")
Path("output.md").write_text(md_text, encoding="utf-8")
```

<Tip>
  Always specify `encoding="utf-8"` when writing text files to ensure special characters, symbols, and non-Latin scripts are preserved correctly.
</Tip>

***

## Saving JSON

Use Python's built-in `json` module to serialise the output before writing:

```python theme={null}
import pymupdf4llm
import json
from pathlib import Path

data = pymupdf4llm.to_json("document.pdf")

Path("output.json").write_text(
    json.dumps(data, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False),
    encoding="utf-8"
)
```

`indent=2` produces human-readable JSON. For large documents where file size matters, omit it to write compact single-line JSON:

```python theme={null}
Path("output.json").write_text(
    json.dumps(data, ensure_ascii=False),
    encoding="utf-8"
)
```

***

## Saving Plain Text

```python theme={null}
import pymupdf4llm
from pathlib import Path

text = pymupdf4llm.to_text("document.pdf")
Path("output.txt").write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
```

***

## Saving Page Chunks

When using `page_chunks=True`, you'll typically want to save each page as a separate file. Use the page number from the chunk metadata to name each file:

```python theme={null}
import pymupdf4llm
from pathlib import Path

output_dir = Path("output/pages")
output_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

chunks = pymupdf4llm.to_markdown("document.pdf", page_chunks=True)

for chunk in chunks:
    page_num = chunk["metadata"]["page"]
    filepath = output_dir / f"page-{page_num}.md"
    filepath.write_text(chunk["text"], encoding="utf-8")
    print(f"Saved {filepath}")
```

***

## Saving with a Matching Filename

To derive the output filename from the input document automatically:

```python theme={null}
import pymupdf4llm
from pathlib import Path

input_path = Path("reports/annual-report-2025.pdf")

md_text = pymupdf4llm.to_markdown(str(input_path))

output_path = input_path.with_suffix(".md")
output_path.write_text(md_text, encoding="utf-8")

print(f"Saved to {output_path}")
# Saved to reports/annual-report-2025.md
```

`Path.with_suffix()` swaps the file extension cleanly, keeping the same directory and stem.

***

## Saving to a Different Directory

To write output to a different folder while keeping the original filename:

```python theme={null}
import pymupdf4llm
from pathlib import Path

input_path = Path("source/document.pdf")
output_dir = Path("extracted")
output_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

md_text = pymupdf4llm.to_markdown(str(input_path))

output_path = output_dir / input_path.with_suffix(".md").name
output_path.write_text(md_text, encoding="utf-8")

print(f"Saved to {output_path}")
# Saved to extracted/document.md
```

***

## Processing Multiple Files

To extract and save output for an entire folder of PDFs:

```python theme={null}
import pymupdf4llm
from pathlib import Path

input_dir = Path("documents/")
output_dir = Path("extracted/")
output_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

pdf_files = list(input_dir.glob("*.pdf"))
print(f"Found {len(pdf_files)} PDF(s)")

for pdf_path in pdf_files:
    print(f"Processing {pdf_path.name}...")
    try:
        md_text = pymupdf4llm.to_markdown(str(pdf_path))
        output_path = output_dir / pdf_path.with_suffix(".md").name
        output_path.write_text(md_text, encoding="utf-8")
        print(f"  ✓ Saved to {output_path}")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"  ✗ Failed: {e}")

print("Done.")
```

***

## Saving Images Alongside Markdown

When `write_images=True` is used, images are written to disk automatically during extraction:

```python theme={null}
import pymupdf4llm
from pathlib import Path

image_dir = Path("output/images")
image_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

md_text = pymupdf4llm.to_markdown(
    "document.pdf",
    write_images=True,
    image_path=str(image_dir),
    image_format="png",
    dpi=150
)

Path("output/document.md").write_text(md_text, encoding="utf-8")
```

<Note>
  Image paths in the Markdown output are relative to wherever the `.md` file is opened from. Keep your Markdown file and image directory in the same parent folder to ensure image links resolve correctly.
</Note>

***

## File Format Summary

| Output      | Function                         | Extension        | Write Method                         |
| ----------- | -------------------------------- | ---------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| Markdown    | `to_markdown()`                  | `.md`            | `Path.write_text()`                  |
| JSON        | `to_json()`                      | `.json`          | `json.dumps()` + `Path.write_text()` |
| Plain text  | `to_text()`                      | `.txt`           | `Path.write_text()`                  |
| Page chunks | `to_markdown(page_chunks=True)`  | `.md` per page   | `Path.write_text()` in a loop        |
| Images      | `to_markdown(write_images=True)` | `.png` / `.jpeg` | Written automatically                |

***

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Extract Markdown" icon="markdown" href="/python/guides/extract-Markdown">
    Full walkthrough of to\_markdown() with all common options.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Extract JSON" icon="brackets-curly" href="/python/guides/extract-JSON">
    Bounding boxes and layout data for custom pipelines.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Extract Text" icon="align-left" href="/python/guides/extract-Text">
    Plain text extraction and whitespace handling.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Images & Graphics" icon="image" href="/python/guides/images-and-graphics">
    Controlling image extraction, DPI, format, and output path.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>