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

# Optional Dependencies

> Guide to MarkItDown's optional dependency groups and selective installation

MarkItDown uses optional dependency groups to minimize installation size and avoid unnecessary dependencies. Install only what you need for your specific use case.

## Installation Groups

MarkItDown defines the following optional dependency groups in `pyproject.toml`:

### all - Complete Installation

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[all]
```

Installs all optional dependencies for maximum file format support.

**Includes:**

* `python-pptx` - PowerPoint support
* `mammoth~=1.11.0` - Word document support
* `pandas` - Excel support
* `openpyxl` - Excel (.xlsx) support
* `xlrd` - Excel (.xls) support
* `lxml` - Enhanced XML/HTML parsing
* `pdfminer.six>=20251230` - PDF text extraction
* `pdfplumber>=0.11.9` - Advanced PDF parsing
* `olefile` - Outlook MSG support
* `pydub` - Audio processing
* `SpeechRecognition` - Audio transcription
* `youtube-transcript-api~=1.0.0` - YouTube transcript support
* `azure-ai-documentintelligence` - Azure Document Intelligence
* `azure-identity` - Azure authentication

<Tip>
  Recommended for most users to ensure all file types are supported.
</Tip>

### pptx - PowerPoint Support

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[pptx]
```

**Includes:**

* `python-pptx`

**Supports:**

* `.pptx` files (PowerPoint presentations)

### docx - Word Document Support

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[docx]
```

**Includes:**

* `mammoth~=1.11.0`
* `lxml`

**Supports:**

* `.docx` files (Word documents)

### xlsx - Excel XLSX Support

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[xlsx]
```

**Includes:**

* `pandas`
* `openpyxl`

**Supports:**

* `.xlsx` files (Excel spreadsheets, modern format)

### xls - Excel XLS Support

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[xls]
```

**Includes:**

* `pandas`
* `xlrd`

**Supports:**

* `.xls` files (Excel spreadsheets, legacy format)

### pdf - PDF Support

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[pdf]
```

**Includes:**

* `pdfminer.six>=20251230`
* `pdfplumber>=0.11.9`

**Supports:**

* `.pdf` files (PDF documents)

<Note>
  PDF support uses both pdfminer.six and pdfplumber for robust text extraction and table parsing.
</Note>

### outlook - Outlook MSG Support

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[outlook]
```

**Includes:**

* `olefile`

**Supports:**

* `.msg` files (Outlook messages)

### audio-transcription - Audio Support

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[audio-transcription]
```

**Includes:**

* `pydub`
* `SpeechRecognition`

**Supports:**

* Audio file transcription
* Requires FFmpeg installed on system

<Warning>
  Audio transcription requires FFmpeg to be installed separately:

  ```bash theme={null}
  # macOS
  brew install ffmpeg

  # Ubuntu/Debian
  sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

  # Windows
  # Download from https://ffmpeg.org
  ```
</Warning>

### youtube-transcription - YouTube Support

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[youtube-transcription]
```

**Includes:**

* `youtube-transcript-api~=1.0.0`

**Supports:**

* YouTube video transcript extraction

### az-doc-intel - Azure Document Intelligence

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[az-doc-intel]
```

**Includes:**

* `azure-ai-documentintelligence`
* `azure-identity`

**Supports:**

* Cloud-based document conversion via Azure Document Intelligence service
* Enhanced OCR and layout analysis

<Note>
  Requires an Azure Document Intelligence endpoint. See the [Azure Document Intelligence guide](/guides/azure-document-intelligence) for setup.
</Note>

## Core Dependencies

These dependencies are always installed:

* `beautifulsoup4` - HTML parsing
* `requests` - HTTP requests
* `markdownify` - HTML to Markdown conversion
* `magika~=0.6.1` - File type detection
* `charset-normalizer` - Character encoding detection
* `defusedxml` - Safe XML parsing

## Combining Dependency Groups

Install multiple groups by combining them:

```bash theme={null}
# PDF and Office support
pip install markitdown[pdf,docx,xlsx,pptx]

# PDF and Azure
pip install markitdown[pdf,az-doc-intel]

# Office formats only
pip install markitdown[docx,xlsx,pptx]
```

## Use Case Examples

### Minimal Installation

For basic text, HTML, CSV, and simple formats:

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown
```

**Supports without optional dependencies:**

* Plain text files
* HTML files
* CSV files
* RSS feeds
* Jupyter notebooks (`.ipynb`)
* Wikipedia pages
* Bing search results
* YouTube transcripts (if available)

### Document Processing Server

For a server processing office documents and PDFs:

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[pdf,docx,xlsx,pptx]
```

### Web Scraping Application

Minimal installation is sufficient:

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown
```

### Media Processing Pipeline

For audio and image processing:

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[audio-transcription]

# Also install system dependencies
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg exiftool  # Linux
brew install ffmpeg exiftool          # macOS
```

### Cloud Document Service

Using Azure Document Intelligence:

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[az-doc-intel]
```

### Development Environment

Install everything for testing:

```bash theme={null}
pip install markitdown[all]
```

## Checking Installed Dependencies

Verify which dependencies are installed:

```python theme={null}
import importlib.util

dependencies = {
    'pptx': 'pptx',
    'docx': 'mammoth',
    'xlsx': 'openpyxl',
    'xls': 'xlrd',
    'pdf': 'pdfplumber',
    'outlook': 'olefile',
    'audio': 'speech_recognition',
    'youtube': 'youtube_transcript_api',
    'azure': 'azure.ai.documentintelligence'
}

for name, module in dependencies.items():
    spec = importlib.util.find_spec(module)
    status = "✓" if spec else "✗"
    print(f"{status} {name}: {module}")
```

## Error Messages

When a required dependency is missing, MarkItDown will raise a `MissingDependencyException`:

```python theme={null}
from markitdown import MarkItDown, MissingDependencyException

md = MarkItDown()

try:
    result = md.convert("document.pdf")
except MissingDependencyException as e:
    print(e)
    # Output: "Conversion requires the optional dependency [pdf] to be installed.
    #          E.g., `pip install markitdown[pdf]`"
```

## Upgrade Existing Installation

Add optional dependencies to an existing installation:

```bash theme={null}
# Already have markitdown installed, add PDF support
pip install markitdown[pdf]

# Upgrade to full installation
pip install markitdown[all]
```

## Dependencies in Docker

The official Docker image includes all dependencies:

```dockerfile theme={null}
RUN pip --no-cache-dir install \
    /app/packages/markitdown[all]
```

For a minimal Docker image, customize the Dockerfile:

```dockerfile theme={null}
# Minimal image with only PDF support
RUN pip --no-cache-dir install \
    /app/packages/markitdown[pdf]
```

## Requirements Files

For reproducible environments:

```txt requirements.txt theme={null}
markitdown[all]==0.1.0
```

Or specify exact versions:

```txt requirements.txt theme={null}
markitdown==0.1.0
python-pptx==0.6.21
mammoth==1.11.0
pandas==2.0.0
# ... etc
```

## System Dependencies

Some features require system-level packages:

### ExifTool (for image metadata)

```bash theme={null}
# macOS
brew install exiftool

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install libimage-exiftool-perl

# Set path if needed
export EXIFTOOL_PATH=/usr/bin/exiftool
```

### FFmpeg (for audio processing)

```bash theme={null}
# macOS
brew install ffmpeg

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

# Windows
# Download from https://ffmpeg.org
```

## Troubleshooting

### Version Conflicts

If you encounter version conflicts:

```bash theme={null}
# Create a fresh virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/macOS
venv\Scripts\activate     # Windows

pip install markitdown[all]
```

### Installation Failures

Some packages require build tools:

```bash theme={null}
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install build-essential python3-dev

# macOS (install Xcode Command Line Tools)
xcode-select --install
```

### Check Installed Version

```bash theme={null}
pip show markitdown
pip list | grep markitdown
```