Feature Request: Add batch processing capability for directory conversion

User Story

As a user, I want to convert multiple files in a directory to Markdown format in one operation, so that I can efficiently process large collections of documents without having to run the command for each file individually.

Current Behavior

Currently, MarkItDown only supports converting single files:

markitdown path-to-file.pdf > document.md

Desired Behavior

I would like to be able to specify a directory and have MarkItDown process all supported files within that directory (and subdirectories):

# Process all files in a directory
markitdown --batch ./documents --output ./converted

# Process with specific file types
markitdown --batch ./documents --output ./converted --types pdf,docx,pptx

# Process with recursive subdirectory support
markitdown --batch ./documents --output ./converted --recursive

Use Cases

1. Document Collections: Converting entire folders of PDFs, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations
2. Data Processing Pipelines: Batch processing for LLM training data preparation
3. Documentation Migration: Converting legacy document collections to Markdown format
4. Research Projects: Processing large datasets of various document types

Proposed Implementation

1. Add --batch or -b flag to specify directory processing mode
2. Add --output or -o flag to specify output directory
3. Add --recursive or -r flag for subdirectory processing
4. Add --types flag to filter by specific file extensions
5. Maintain directory structure in output
6. Provide progress reporting and error handling

Benefits

• Efficiency: Reduce manual work for large document collections
• Consistency: Ensure all files are processed with the same settings
• Scalability: Handle large document repositories
• Integration: Better integration with automated workflows

Alternative Solutions

Currently, users need to create custom scripts or use shell commands like:

find ./documents -name "*.pdf" -exec markitdown {} -o {}.md \;

This works but lacks the native integration and error handling that a built-in feature would provide.

Priority

Medium - This would significantly improve the user experience for users working with document collections.

Labels

• enhancement
• feature-request
• cli
• batch-processing