I take a lot of notes from PDFs: papers, manuals, vendor docs. Every time I select text and paste it into my notes app, the result is a mess. Lines break in the middle of sentences, headings turn into plain text, and tables collapse into rows of numbers with no structure. I used to spend more time cleaning up than reading.
I wanted something that didn't require installing a desktop app or setting up a command-line toolchain, especially on machines where I can't install things. A browser-based converter turned out to be the simplest fix.
I've been using pdf-to-md.app for this. I drop in a PDF, and it gives me Markdown with headings preserved, paragraphs joined properly, and tables kept as actual Markdown tables. It isn't perfect on scanned or heavily designed documents, but for normal text-based PDFs the output is clean enough to paste straight into my notes.
My workflow now: convert, skim the output for odd spots, fix a couple of lines, and save it. That takes a minute instead of twenty. If you keep notes in Markdown, it's worth trying before you reach for heavier tools.
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