Google Docs Markdown Export

Google Docs natively supports markdown export via a URL parameter. This is the most reliable way to get markdown from a Google Doc — better than defuddle, jina, or any scraping tool.

URL Pattern

For any Google Doc URL like:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/{DOC_ID}/edit?tab=t.0

Replace everything after the document ID with export?format=md:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/{DOC_ID}/export?format=md

Extracting the Document ID

The DOC_ID is the long alphanumeric string between /d/ and the next /:

# From any Google Docs URL, extract the ID:
echo "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mt8aYM88Jj5qkep1xYC5vj0wBlbX2u6gdxhf_puaiQI/edit?tab=t.0" \
  | grep -oP '(?<=/d/)[^/]+'
# → 1mt8aYM88Jj5qkep1xYC5vj0wBlbX2u6gdxhf_puaiQI

Fetching

# Public docs — no auth needed, follow the 307 redirect:
curl -L "https://docs.google.com/document/d/${DOC_ID}/export?format=md" -o output.md

# Private docs — needs OAuth bearer token:
curl -L "https://docs.google.com/document/d/${DOC_ID}/export?format=md" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" -o output.md

Important: The endpoint returns a 307 redirect. Always use curl -L (follow redirects) or equivalent.

Other Export Formats

The same pattern works for other formats:

• export?format=pdf — PDF
• export?format=docx — Word
• export?format=txt — Plain text
• export?format=html — HTML
• export?format=epub — ePub

Batch Pattern

When you have a list of Google Doc URLs (e.g. extracted from Front emails):

# Extract doc IDs from a file of URLs
grep -oP '(?<=/d/)[^/]+' urls.txt | sort -u | while read id; do
  echo "Fetching $id..."
  curl -sL "https://docs.google.com/document/d/${id}/export?format=md" \
    -o "docs/${id}.md"
  sleep 1  # Be polite
done

When to Use

• Always prefer this over defuddle/scraping for Google Docs
• Works for public docs without any authentication
• Native markdown quality is superior to any HTML→markdown conversion
• Handles tables, formatting, links, images (as URLs) correctly

Limitations

• Private docs require a valid OAuth token (use gog when available)
• Very large docs may take a few seconds
• Images are referenced as URLs, not embedded
• Comments and suggestions are not included in the export