Bindery · help
How to convert Markdown on an iPhone or iPad.
Bindery turns a Markdown file, or a folder of them, into a Word document, a PDF, an EPUB or a Kobo KEPUB, on the device. This page is the whole of it: the steps, the formats, the limits, and what to do when something looks wrong.
Convert one file
- Add the file. Bindery opens the system document picker, so
you can pick a
.mdfile from Files, iCloud Drive, or any other provider your phone shows there. Add several and they are joined, in the order you set. - Choose the format. Word, PDF, EPUB or KEPUB. Each one says what it will make before it makes it.
- Tap Convert. The whole conversion runs on the device; a network makes no difference to it.
- Share it, or save it to Files. From here on it is an ordinary document that any other app can open.
There is no editor in Bindery. The reading pane shows the file you picked so you can see what you are converting; to change the words, change them in whatever you wrote them with, and add the file again.
Bind a folder of chapters into one book
Add every chapter file, then put them in order with the sort control. Bindery reads them as one document: a page break at each seam in Word and PDF, one contents page across all of them, and links between chapters that still land where they should even when two files used the same heading.
The ceiling is 500 files and 10 MB of Markdown in one conversion, which is roughly 1.7 million words. Bindery refuses before it starts rather than running out of memory halfway through.
Pick the format
- Word (.docx) — for the person who is going to edit it, comment on it, or paste it into a template.
- PDF — for the version nobody should change, with an outline to navigate by.
- EPUB — for Apple Books, a Kindle, and every e‑reader; and KEPUB, Kobo's own flavour of it, for a Kobo.
All four are written from one reading of your Markdown, so the Word file and the EPUB cannot disagree about what a heading was.
Diagrams, equations and code
A mermaid code block is drawn as a diagram. Mathematics written as
$…$ or $$…$$ is typeset. Fenced code keeps
its syntax colouring in all four formats. All of that is done by software that
ships inside the app; nothing is fetched to do it.
Questions
The things people ask.
Does Bindery upload my files?
No. The converter is part of the app and runs on the device. There is no code in Bindery that could send a document anywhere, and it works with the network switched off. The one thing that reaches the outside world is the purchase of Bindery Pro, and that goes to Apple.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Converting, drawing diagrams and typesetting equations all happen inside the app. You can convert a book on a plane.
What does the free version include?
Twenty pages a month, where a page is 4,000 characters of Markdown. The count resets on the first of the month. The counter is a small file on your device and is not reported to anyone.
Is Bindery Pro a subscription?
No. It is a one-off purchase through the App Store that removes the monthly limit. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel. On a second device, tap Restore Purchases on the same screen and it unlocks there too.
Can Bindery edit Markdown?
No. It shows the file you picked in a read-only pane and converts it. Write in whatever app you like, then hand the file to Bindery.
Which iPhones and iPads run it?
Any iPhone or iPad on iOS 26 or later. It asks for no permissions of any kind, and there is no account to create.
Can it make a Kindle file?
Choose EPUB. Amazon stopped accepting the old .mobi format in 2022 and a Kindle takes an EPUB, whether you send it to the device or open it in the Kindle app.
Is there a size limit?
Ten megabytes of Markdown and 500 files in one conversion, which is about 1.7 million words. Bindery says so before it starts rather than failing part way through.
Is there a Mac version?
Bindery is an iPhone and iPad app. It is not sold for the Mac.
Troubleshooting
When something looks wrong.
The table of contents in Word is empty
The Word file carries a real contents field, and a flag asking Word to fill it when the document opens. Some versions of Word ask first: say yes. If it still shows nothing, select the contents and update the field; the headings are all there.
It says I have no free pages left
The free allowance is twenty pages a calendar month and comes back on the first. Bindery Pro removes it.
I bought Pro and it is not unlocked on my new phone
Tap Restore Purchases on the paywall. It asks Apple whether this Apple Account has bought it, and unlocks if so.
A diagram came out as its source text
That should never happen in the app: it draws every Mermaid diagram itself. If one came through as text, that is a fault we want to hear about. Raise a case and paste the diagram's source into it.
Still stuck?
Raise a case with or without an email address — your choice. Say which format you chose and what came out.