Get Started
← Build things with code · Mission 15 of 18

Turn plain text into branded Word files, PDFs and ebooks clients will pay for

Write a proposal once and get a branded Word file, a PDF, a web page and an ebook from it, each in under a second. Then turn a local business's blog into a free ebook they swap for email sign-ups, and charge for it. Pandoc is free, open source and needs no account.

45 minBeginnerTools: FreeStep 1 free
Tested 9 Oct 2026 · pandoc 3.12.1 (portable zip), Typst 0.15.1, Microsoft Word, EPUBCheck 5.4.0, Windows 11
Pandoc running from a folder on your PC, with nothing installed system-wide
A Word proposal in your own fonts, colours, A4 page size and footer, made from a plain text file
The same text as a PDF, a single-file web page and an ebook with a cover that passes the official EPUB checker
  • A one-line loop that converts a whole folder at once (50 files in about 5 seconds)
  • A ready-made service to sell: a business's blog turned into a branded lead-magnet ebook, with who to pitch and what to charge
  • Practice files: a sample proposal, a branded Word template and a three-chapter ebook
Before you start
  • Windows, Mac or Linux, and about 280MB of disk space (pandoc is 226MB unzipped, Typst 51MB)
  • Microsoft Word or another app that opens .docx files (LibreOffice and Google Docs work too)
  • No account and no API key
  • Helpful but not required: Level 0's terminal survival kit
01/07Get pandoc and the practice files0 done
STEP 01 of 07~5 min

Get pandoc and the practice files

Pandoc is one program that reads 52 document formats and writes 77. You'll run it straight from a folder.

  1. Pandoc reads a document in one format and writes it in another. You'll mostly write in Markdown: plain text where a line starting with # is a heading and **this** is bold. Then pandoc turns it into whatever the client wants.

  2. On Windows, open PowerShell (Start menu, type PowerShell) and paste this. It downloads the official 40MB zip from pandoc's GitHub releases page and unpacks it into a pandoc folder in your user folder:

    Windows PowerShell
    cd $HOME
curl.exe -L -o pandoc.zip https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/releases/download/3.12.1/pandoc-3.12.1-windows-x86_64.zip
Expand-Archive pandoc.zip -DestinationPath $HOME\pandoc
Remove-Item pandoc.zip
$env:Path += ";$HOME\pandoc\pandoc-3.12.1"
pandoc --version
    Mac (with Homebrew)
    brew install pandoc
pandoc --version
    Linux
    cd ~
curl -L https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/releases/download/3.12.1/pandoc-3.12.1-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar -xz
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/pandoc-3.12.1/bin"
pandoc --version
    Output
    pandoc 3.12.1
Features: +server +lua
Scripting engine: Lua 5.4
...

  3. It takes a few seconds on a normal connection. No admin prompt, nothing added to the Start menu.

    TipThe $env:Path line only lasts until you close this window. Next time, paste that one line again before using pandoc. Prefer a permanent install? Pandoc's own docs offer the .msi installer on the releases page ↗, or winget install --source winget --exact --id JohnMacFarlane.Pandoc.

  4. Now get the practice files: a proposal for a sample bakery, a branded Word template and a short ebook. Download pandoc-practice.zip (161KB) to your Downloads folder, then unzip it and step inside:

    Windows PowerShell
    Expand-Archive $HOME\Downloads\pandoc-practice.zip -DestinationPath $HOME
cd $HOME\pandoc-practice
dir
    Mac / Linux
    unzip ~/Downloads/pandoc-practice.zip -d ~
cd ~/pandoc-practice
ls -l
    Output
    Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d-----        09/10/2026     04:19                ebook
d-----        09/10/2026     04:19                images
-a----        09/10/2026     04:17          12229 northlight-reference.docx
-a----        09/10/2026     04:17           1870 proposal.md
-a----        09/10/2026     04:17           1273 style.css
✓
Checkpointpandoc --version prints pandoc 3.12.1 (Homebrew may give a newer number, which is fine), and dir shows proposal.md.
If it breaksThe term 'pandoc' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet + 3 more
The term 'pandoc' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet
You're in a new window, or the $env:Path line was skipped. Paste $env:Path += ";$HOME\pandoc\pandoc-3.12.1" and try again.
Expand-Archive says a file "already exists"
You've unzipped it before. Add -Force to the end of the Expand-Archive line to overwrite the old copy.
On a Mac or Linux, a command with backslashes fails
The commands in this mission are written for Windows PowerShell. Swap each \ in a path for / and $HOME for ~, for example cd ~/pandoc-practice/ebook. Steps that need a different command show a Mac / Linux version.
Expand-Archive says the path does not exist
Your browser saved the zip somewhere else, or as pandoc-practice (1).zip. Open your Downloads folder, check the exact name, and change the line to match.
Still stuck? Ask the community
Next mission · Build things with codePitch decks from plain text: your own template, a deck per prospect, a PDF by lunch
→