Claude · Setup

Save 90% of Your Tokens in Claude (the PDF method)

Every PDF you paste into Claude costs you. 4 steps to convert your docs to .md and stay on Pro instead of Max.

QQuentin Megevand
May 24, 2026 · 3 min read

Every PDF you paste into Claude costs you.

When you drop a raw document into Claude, you're not only paying for the useful info. You're paying for all the noise around it.

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If you drop in a PDF
Raw PDF
~ 3,000 tokens

Claude has to parse the layout, the images, the headers, the margins. You pay for noise.

If you paste a screenshot
Screenshot
~ 1,200-1,500 tokens

Vision tokens per image. Multiply that by 5-10 screenshots in a session and your context is maxed out.

The result: you saturate your context with junk tokens, you burn through your plan faster, and you slow Claude down on every reply.

The good news is there's a simple, free workaround that takes 30 seconds per document.

The fix in one sentence

Convert every document to .md before handing it to Claude. You keep 100% of the info and pay a fraction of the price.

1

The 4-step method

⚙️4 steps to convert any document to .md
1
Open your source document. Whether it's a PDF, a Word file, an email, a web page or a Notion note. Select the text you actually care about and copy it. No need to grab everything, aim for the useful content.
2
Paste it into a new Google Doc. Open docs.new in your browser. Paste your text in. You can keep the headings, bold and lists, Google Docs preserves them in the conversion.
3
Download as Markdown. Menu File → Download → Markdown (.md). Google Docs exports the structure cleanly: headings, lists, links, bold. You end up with an ultra-light text file.
4
Upload the .md into Claude. Drag the .md file into your Claude conversation exactly like you would have with the PDF. Claude reads it instantly, and you pay a fraction of the tokens for the same info.
Why it works

A Markdown file is plain text with structure. No encoded images, no layout, no PDF metadata. Claude gets the pure signal, without the visual noise.

2

Going further

🎯4 habits to adopt so you never torch your plan again
→
For web pages: use a "Save as Markdown" extension. No need to go through Google Docs, you click, you get the .md directly. You save another 20 seconds per doc.
→
For screenshots: retype the key text, never paste the image. If the info boils down to 3 numbers or 2 paragraphs, just write them out. You go from 1,500 tokens to 50 tokens.
→
For emails: copy just the body. Not the signature, not the legal disclaimers, not the cascading reply threads. Clean at the source and you save across the whole conversation.
→
For big docs (reports, contracts, books): split into sections. Give Claude one section at a time, not the whole doc. Your answers will be sharper, and your context stays fresh.
Key takeaway

The cleaner, more structured and more minimal your input, the faster, sharper and more stable Claude is. The .md is just the simplest expression of that principle.

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