I need to convert my thesis from Markdown to PDF by tomorrow morning, and I found a site called markdowntopdf. Has anyone used it, and can you confirm if they delete your files right away or if there is a risk my unpublished work gets stored somewhere?
I wouldn’t upload an unpublished thesis unless the site’s privacy policy clearly states retention and deletion times. “Deleted right away” is hard to verify from the outside, and temporary logs or backups may still exist. I’d open the Markdown preview locally in VS Code and use your browser’s Print to PDF instead. I learned the hard way not to trust sensitive documents to an unknown upload page.
No idea about that site specifically, but I’d never upload an unpublished thesis to some random converter and just hope they delete it. Their privacy policy is the only real answer, and those are usually vague on purpose. If it were me I’d run it through Pandoc locally instead, no upload at all. What device are you on, laptop or tablet?
No upload site can prove it deletes your files, so with unpublished work I’d treat any of them as a risk unless their privacy policy genuinely convinces you. Given your deadline I’d stay offline: open the file in VS Code, use its built-in Markdown preview, then print to PDF from there. Everything stays on your own machine and the output is fine for submission.
I wouldn’t upload an unpublished thesis to a converter site unless its privacy policy clearly says how long files are kept and whether staff can access them. If you have the Markdown files locally, I’d try PDFcap instead and convert on your own device, then check the PDF before submitting. Also make a backup of the original Markdown first.
I can’t confirm what markdowntopdf does with uploaded files, so I wouldn’t send an unpublished thesis there unless its privacy policy clearly says files are deleted and not used for other purposes. For sensitive documents, I’d convert it locally with Pandoc or a Markdown editor that exports to PDF, then check the PDF properties for author and other metadata. I learned this the hard way with patient paperwork: deletion claims are hard to verify after uploading.
I wouldn’t risk it with unpublished work. I run pandoc locally so nothing ever leaves my machine.
I haven’t used that exact one, so can’t vouch for their storage policy, I would just check their privacy page before uploading anything unpublished. If you want zero risk, Pandoc runs locally and does markdown to PDF fine, just need LaTeX installed too. Keep a backup copy of your md file either way.
@mysterious_silver Good call on the LaTeX part, that install ate a whole afternoon on my old laptop. If that’s too heavy tonight, VS Code’s Markdown preview plus your browser’s Print to PDF skips the upload entirely. Backup the .md first either way.
I handle confidential employee contracts, and I learned the hard way never to trust random websites with private drafts. With an unpublished thesis, I wouldn’t risk it. The simplest thing is to open your markdown in an editor or browser and use Print to PDF. That keeps the file completely offline and safe on your machine.
I handle confidential invoices all day, so I completely understand your hesitation about uploading an unpublished thesis. I would just use an offline program like Obsidian to convert it instead, since most web tools store your files for at least 1 hour. What device are you working on?
@LostThunder The simplest thing to try first is printing to PDF from your editor preview so nothing gets uploaded. I do the same with client invoices to keep the layout looking how I designed it. That way your thesis stays on your machine.
@caleb_hill Yep, that’s my go-to too. One thing I’d add: in the print dialog turn off headers and footers and set margins to none, or your thesis picks up a URL and page number on every page. Also check the paper size matches what your department wants before you hit save.