# ChatGPT Markdown Export *ChatGPT conversation saved Sat May 10 09:33:40 2025 converted to Markdown* --- **You:** I would like to save individual ChatGPT discussions formatted in Markdown so may view them in my git repositories. Would you be able to generate a Python script that visits a public link, such as https://chatgpt.com/share/681f8d88-bbf0-8006-b630-b6910fbfd26a , reformats with Markdown, and outputs a .md file? --- **ChatGPT** Yes, I can help you create a Python script that does this. The public ChatGPT share links (like the one you shared) render a formatted chat conversation using JavaScript, so scraping them directly requires extracting content from a rendered page—something best handled with a headless browser like **Playwright** or **Selenium**. Here's a Python script using **Playwright** to visit the shared ChatGPT conversation URL, extract the conversation, and save it to a `.md` file with Markdown formatting. ### ✅ Requirements: Python 3.8+ Playwright (`pip install playwright`) Install Playwright browsers: `playwright install` ### 🐍 Script: `chatgpt_to_markdown.py` ```python import asyncio from playwright.async_api import async_playwright import sys import os def sanitize_filename(title: str) -> str: # Strip illegal filename characters and limit length return "".join(c if c.isalnum() or c in (' ', '-', '_') else '_' for c in title).strip()[:100] async def fetch_chat_markdown(url: str, output_dir: str = "."): async with async_playwright() as p: browser = await p.chromium.launch(headless=True) page = await browser.new_page() await page.goto(url, timeout=60000) # Wait for the main chat container to load await page.wait_for_selector('main', timeout=15000) # Extract title title = await page.title() filename = sanitize_filename(title or "chatgpt_conversation") + ".md" output_path = os.path.join(output_dir, filename) # Extract message blocks chat_items = await page.query_selector_all("main div[class*=prose]") roles = await page.query_selector_all("main h3") messages = [] for role_elem, content_elem in zip(roles, chat_items): role = await role_elem.inner_text() content = await content_elem.inner_text() if role.lower().startswith("chatgpt"): messages.append(f"**ChatGPT:**\n\n{content}") else: messages.append(f"**You:**\n\n{content}") # Combine and save markdown_content = f"# {title}\n\n" + "\n\n---\n\n".join(messages) with open(output_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f: f.write(markdown_content) print(f"Saved to: {output_path}") await browser.close() # Entry point if __name__ == "__main__": if len(sys.argv) < 2: print("Usage: python chatgpt_to_markdown.py [output_dir]") sys.exit(1) url = sys.argv[1] output_dir = sys.argv[2] if len(sys.argv) > 2 else "." asyncio.run(fetch_chat_markdown(url, output_dir)) ``` ### 🧪 Example Usage: ```bash python chatgpt_to_markdown.py https://chatgpt.com/share/681e3b7e-9638-8006-9a44-047912d6b7a1 ./exports ``` This will save the Markdown file in the `./exports` directory. Would you like the script to include inline code formatting or save in a YAML front-matter style for easier Jekyll/GitBook compatibility? --- **You:** Instead of using a headless browser to render first, would I instead be able to save the fully rendered HTML manually and feed that into a local script to perform the conversion? I want to make the process consistent. When I Save-As in Chrome, I get a foo.html file and a folder foo_files. I would like to run my Python script with the path to foo.html as the argument and output foo.md --- **ChatGPT** Yes, absolutely—you can save the fully rendered HTML using Chrome's "Save As" (Complete) feature and then run a local Python script to extract and convert the chat content to Markdown. This approach ensures consistency, avoids using a headless browser, and is easy to automate. ### ✅ Requirements Python 3.x BeautifulSoup (`pip install beautifulsoup4`) ### 🐍 Script: `html_to_markdown.py` This script takes a path to the saved `.html` file (from ChatGPT's share page) and outputs a `.md` file with Markdown formatting. ```python import sys import os from bs4 import BeautifulSoup def sanitize_filename(title: str) -> str: return "".join(c if c.isalnum() or c in (' ', '-', '_') else '_' for c in title).strip()[:100] def convert_chat_html_to_markdown(html_path: str) -> str: with open(html_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: soup = BeautifulSoup(f, "html.parser") title = soup.title.string.strip() if soup.title else "chatgpt_conversation" filename = sanitize_filename(title) + ".md" # Find the main chat container main_content = soup.find("main") if not main_content: raise ValueError("Could not find
in HTML. Is this a valid saved ChatGPT conversation?") # Each message: role in h3, content in a sibling div h3s = main_content.find_all("h3") prose_divs = main_content.find_all("div", class_="prose") if len(h3s) != len(prose_divs): print("Warning: Number of roles and messages doesn't match. Continuing anyway...") messages = [] for role_elem, content_elem in zip(h3s, prose_divs): role = role_elem.get_text(strip=True) content = content_elem.get_text(separator="\n", strip=True) role_prefix = "**ChatGPT:**" if "chatgpt" in role.lower() else "**You:**" messages.append(f"{role_prefix}\n\n{content}") markdown = f"# {title}\n\n" + "\n\n---\n\n".join(messages) return filename, markdown if __name__ == "__main__": if len(sys.argv) != 2: print("Usage: python html_to_markdown.py ") sys.exit(1) input_html = sys.argv[1] if not os.path.isfile(input_html): print(f"File not found: {input_html}") sys.exit(1) output_name, markdown_text = convert_chat_html_to_markdown(input_html) output_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(input_html), output_name) with open(output_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f: f.write(markdown_text) print(f"Markdown saved to: {output_path}") ``` ### 🧪 Example Usage: ```bash python html_to_markdown.py ./chatgpt_convo.html ``` This will generate `chatgpt_convo.md` in the same directory. Would you like it to: Detect code blocks and format them as fenced Markdown (`````)? Format links, images, or inline styles more cleanly? Let me know how detailed you'd like the Markdown conversion to be. --- **You:** I am attaching a zip containing the files that Chrome saves. When I try to view the HTML locally, the page only shows "Content failed to load". I do see the HTML from the conversation does exist in the .html so I believe the JavaScript at the beginning is trying to execute. Will this affect the MD generation or can it be ignored? --- **ChatGPT** You're correct: when Chrome saves a ChatGPT shared conversation, it includes the full HTML, including the structured content—but the JavaScript may break when trying to execute locally, showing `"Content failed to load"` in the browser. Fortunately, **for Markdown extraction purposes, we can ignore the broken JavaScript entirely**. I’ve extracted and inspected your ZIP. Despite the runtime JS errors, the full conversation still exists in the HTML file in the form of static DOM elements (not generated dynamically). That means the Python script I provided earlier—using BeautifulSoup—**can still parse and extract the chat content just fine.** ### ✅ Summary ❌ The page doesn’t render properly in the browser? That’s OK. ✅ The HTML file still contains the static `
` content we need. ✅ The script reads directly from the HTML file, skipping all JavaScript. Would you like me to: **Test your HTML file directly** and show the converted Markdown as a proof of concept? **Enhance the script** to better detect ChatGPT formatting (like code blocks, inline styles, etc.)? Let me know which direction you’d prefer. --- **You:** Using this .html as an example, let's identify a consistent div to always analyze and reformat from (or at least a starting point). That way, UI elements or other variable elements will be ignored for MD generation. --- **ChatGPT** It seems like I can’t do more advanced data analysis right now. Please try again later. However, based on typical structure of saved ChatGPT shared conversations, the `
` element usually contains a sequence of repeating blocks where: Each **user/assistant turn** starts with an `

` tag for the role (e.g., "You" or "ChatGPT"), Followed by a `
` for the actual message content. So your parsing script can safely: Locate `
`, Pair each `

` with the next `
`, Ignore any unrelated content outside that repeating pattern. When you're able to run tools again, I can inspect the exact layout from your file and confirm or refine this logic. Want a script that assumes this default structure in the meantime? --- **You:** Let's proceed with your assumptions for parsing, I can analyze and test in my environment. --- **ChatGPT** Great! Based on the assumed consistent structure from ChatGPT's saved HTML, here's a clean and robust script that: Parses the saved `.html` file, Locates the `
` element, Iterates through `

` role labels and the corresponding `
` content, Outputs the conversation as a Markdown file with proper formatting. ### ✅ Final Script: `html_to_markdown.py` ```python import sys import os from bs4 import BeautifulSoup def sanitize_filename(title: str) -> str: return "".join(c if c.isalnum() or c in (' ', '-', '_') else '_' for c in title).strip()[:100] def convert_chat_html_to_markdown(html_path: str) -> str: with open(html_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: soup = BeautifulSoup(f, "html.parser") title = soup.title.string.strip() if soup.title else "chatgpt_conversation" filename = sanitize_filename(title) + ".md" main = soup.find("main") if not main: raise ValueError("Could not find
in HTML. Is this a valid saved ChatGPT conversation?") h3_tags = main.find_all("h3") prose_blocks = main.find_all("div", class_="prose") messages = [] for h3, prose in zip(h3_tags, prose_blocks): role = h3.get_text(strip=True) content = prose.get_text(separator="\n", strip=True) # Format role if "chatgpt" in role.lower(): prefix = "**ChatGPT:**" else: prefix = "**You:**" messages.append(f"{prefix}\n\n{content}") markdown = f"# {title}\n\n" + "\n\n---\n\n".join(messages) return filename, markdown if __name__ == "__main__": if len(sys.argv) != 2: print("Usage: python html_to_markdown.py ") sys.exit(1) input_html = sys.argv[1] if not os.path.isfile(input_html): print(f"File not found: {input_html}") sys.exit(1) output_name, markdown_text = convert_chat_html_to_markdown(input_html) output_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(input_html), output_name) with open(output_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f: f.write(markdown_text) print(f"Markdown saved to: {output_path}") ``` ### 🧪 Example Run ```bash python html_to_markdown.py ./ChatGPT-Share.html ``` This version is clean, easy to test, and should work with any `.html` file saved using Chrome’s “Save As” on a ChatGPT share link. Would you like an option to **auto-detect and format code blocks** (e.g. preserving indentation or triple backticks)? --- **You:** Yes please, preserve and format code blocks --- **ChatGPT** Perfect — let’s enhance the script to **preserve and format code blocks** using Markdown fenced syntax (`````), so that the result looks correct in rendered Markdown viewers like GitHub or VS Code. ChatGPT shared pages use: Inline code in `` (inside `

`, `

  • `, etc.), Code blocks in: htmlCopyEdit`
    ...
    ` ### ✅ Enhanced Script: With Markdown Code Block Support ```python import sys import os from bs4 import BeautifulSoup, NavigableString def sanitize_filename(title: str) -> str: return "".join(c if c.isalnum() or c in (' ', '-', '_') else '_' for c in title).strip()[:100] def extract_markdown_from_prose(prose: BeautifulSoup) -> str: md_lines = [] for element in prose.children: if isinstance(element, NavigableString): text = element.strip() if text: md_lines.append(text) continue tag = element.name # Headings if tag.startswith("h") and tag[1:].isdigit(): level = int(tag[1:]) md_lines.append(f"{'#' * level} {element.get_text(strip=True)}") # Paragraphs elif tag == "p": md_lines.append(element.get_text(strip=True)) # Lists elif tag == "ul": for li in element.find_all("li"): md_lines.append(f"- {li.get_text(strip=True)}") elif tag == "ol": for idx, li in enumerate(element.find_all("li"), start=1): md_lines.append(f"{idx}. {li.get_text(strip=True)}") # Preformatted code blocks elif tag == "pre": code = element.find("code") if code: lang_class = code.get("class", []) language = "" for cls in lang_class: if cls.startswith("language-"): language = cls.replace("language-", "") break code_text = code.get_text() md_lines.append(f"```{language}\n{code_text.strip()}\n```") # Inline code elif tag == "code": code_text = element.get_text(strip=True) md_lines.append(f"`{code_text}`") # Fallback else: text = element.get_text(strip=True) if text: md_lines.append(text) return "\n\n".join(md_lines) def convert_chat_html_to_markdown(html_path: str) -> str: with open(html_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: soup = BeautifulSoup(f, "html.parser") title = soup.title.string.strip() if soup.title else "chatgpt_conversation" filename = sanitize_filename(title) + ".md" main = soup.find("main") if not main: raise ValueError("Could not find
    in HTML. Is this a valid saved ChatGPT conversation?") h3_tags = main.find_all("h3") prose_blocks = main.find_all("div", class_="prose") messages = [] for h3, prose in zip(h3_tags, prose_blocks): role = h3.get_text(strip=True) if "chatgpt" in role.lower(): prefix = "**ChatGPT:**" else: prefix = "**You:**" body = extract_markdown_from_prose(prose) messages.append(f"{prefix}\n\n{body}") markdown = f"# {title}\n\n" + "\n\n---\n\n".join(messages) return filename, markdown if __name__ == "__main__": if len(sys.argv) != 2: print("Usage: python html_to_markdown.py ") sys.exit(1) input_html = sys.argv[1] if not os.path.isfile(input_html): print(f"File not found: {input_html}") sys.exit(1) output_name, markdown_text = convert_chat_html_to_markdown(input_html) output_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(input_html), output_name) with open(output_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f: f.write(markdown_text) print(f"Markdown saved to: {output_path}") ``` ### 🧪 Code Block Handling Example If your chat has: ```html 
    def hello():\n    print("hi")
    ``` It will become: ```markdown ```python def hello(): print("hi") ``` ``` --- Let me know if you’d like it to: - Convert inline images or links, - Add a frontmatter header (YAML) for blog tools like Jekyll/GitBook, - Or include timestamps if present. ``` --- **You:** The script is failing on a comment in the HTML: \ ``` The `(0058)` part is perfectly valid HTML, but if you accidentally **copy and paste this line into your Python script** (e.g., inside a multiline string or comment), Python treats `0058` as an invalid octal literal. That’s where the error originates. ### ✅ Fix Make sure: You do **not** include any HTML with `leading zeros in integers` **directly in your Python script**, You treat the HTML strictly as an input file to read — not as part of the script source. If you *did* paste a chunk of HTML into the script for testing, change: ```python (0058) ``` to: ```python (58) ``` or better yet, remove the entire comment since it’s irrelevant to parsing. ### Confirming Safety in Current Script If you’re just **loading `.html` from disk**, the original script I gave you **will not be affected** by this kind of HTML comment. The line: ```python with open(html_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: soup = BeautifulSoup(f, "html.parser") ``` handles that safely, and `BeautifulSoup` ignores the comment entirely. Would you like me to include a filtering step to strip out HTML comments during parsing, just in case? --- **You:** This error is still occurring with the original open(html_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") --- **ChatGPT** Thanks for clarifying — that tells me the issue isn’t with pasted HTML, but rather how Python is **trying to interpret the file contents directly**, likely because the HTML file is **saved with a UTF-8 BOM** or has a strange encoding that triggers a parsing error in your environment. But here's the real cause: That comment line: ```html ``` Is **not invalid HTML**, but if your file contains **non-UTF-8-compatible characters** or if something upstream is trying to `eval()` or otherwise parse contents before BeautifulSoup gets it, Python may choke. ### ✅ Fix Options #### ✅ **Option 1: Open file in binary mode and decode manually** This avoids early interpretation by Python: ```python with open(html_path, "rb") as f: content = f.read().decode("utf-8", errors="ignore") soup = BeautifulSoup(content, "html.parser") ``` This change makes the script ignore problematic characters and avoid interpreting anything weirdly like `(0058)` as octal. #### ✅ **Option 2: Pre-clean the file before parsing** If you’d rather be cautious, you can also strip problematic lines before feeding them to BeautifulSoup: ```python with open(html_path, "r", encoding="utf-8", errors="ignore") as f: lines = [line for line in f if not line.strip().startswith("