Google Docs: Replace document with Markdown — MCP tool

Google Docs MCP tool: Replaces the entire document body with new Markdown via Drive conversion.

Technical name: import_markdown

What task it solves

I want to rewrite a whole document from Markdown.

Replaces the entire document body with new Markdown via Drive conversion.

When to use it

The writing half of the Markdown round trip: export with export_document format=markdown, edit the Markdown, then write it back here. Use it for wholesale rewrites; for surgical edits use replace_range and the style tools instead.

What to provide

• document_id — required.
• markdown — required. The full new document content.

What it returns

The Drive file resource (id, name, mimeType, modifiedTime).

What changes in Google Docs

The ENTIRE document body is replaced. Supported Markdown becomes native Docs formatting. Existing text, comment anchors (comments survive but detach), positioned objects, headers/footers and extra tabs are lost.

Example request

Replace the whole draft with this corrected Markdown version.

Errors and limitations

This is destructive and final — there is no undo through the API. Formatting the Drive Markdown dialect does not support (e.g. footnotes) will not survive the round trip. Never retried automatically after an ambiguous failure; check the document state before re-sending.

Access also depends on token permissions, quotas, and upstream API limits.

Related MCP tools

• Export a document — export_document
• Replace a text range — replace_range
• Create a document — create_document

Technical details

• Impact: destructive operation
• Group: Documents and Markdown
• Description source: import_markdown registration in src/tools/documents.ts
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