---
layout: feature
title: Multi-Format Indexing
headline: One Index for Markdown, PDFs, Office Docs, and More
description: GNO indexes Markdown, PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and plain text into one local search workspace with metadata extraction, chunking, and language-aware retrieval.
keywords: document indexing, pdf search, markdown search, office documents, docx xlsx pptx, local knowledge workspace
icon: multi-format
slug: multi-format
permalink: /features/multi-format/
og_image: /assets/images/og/og-multi-format.png
benefits:
  - Markdown with frontmatter extraction
  - PDF text extraction
  - Office documents (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX)
  - Plain text files
  - Automatic language detection
commands:
  - "gno init ~/docs --pattern '**/*'"
  - "gno update"
  - "gno ls --json"
---

## Supported Formats

GNO intelligently processes multiple document formats:

### Markdown (.md)

- Extracts YAML frontmatter metadata
- Preserves heading structure
- Maintains code block context

### PDF (.pdf)

- Full text extraction
- Page-aware chunking
- Handles multi-column layouts

### Microsoft Office

- **Word (.docx)** - Full document text
- **Excel (.xlsx)** - Sheet content and headers
- **PowerPoint (.pptx)** - Slide text and notes

### Plain Text

- Any .txt file
- Code files (automatic structural first pass for ts/js/python/go/rust family)
- Log files

## Intelligent Chunking

GNO splits documents into semantic chunks for better search:

- prose and markdown use the default semantic chunker
- supported code files prefer structural breakpoints before falling back to the default chunker

```bash
# Initialize with all formats
gno init ~/documents --pattern "**/*"

# Or specific formats only
gno init ~/notes --pattern "**/*.md"

# Index everything
gno update
```

## Language Detection

Automatic language detection optimizes search for:

- English
- Chinese, Japanese, Korean (CJK)
- Other languages with Unicode support
