Mistral AI in Converting a complex PDF into clean Markdown with a hosted API

Mistral AI returned code without fences and flattened its nested indentation when converting the PDF to Markdown. The Python code was no longer runnable, and the shell command lost its continuation indentation.

Mistral AI kept the mathematical equations as LaTeX math in the Markdown for this PDF. The returned Markdown preserved all six display equations as math blocks with tags, kept inline symbols inside math delimiters, and carried through the page-break text and running heads. The page-by-page comparison sheets matched the source pages shown there.

Mistral AI preserved the figure at its source-page position and kept the caption directly below it. The Markdown places `` between the two surrounding paragraphs, with the Figure 1 caption immediately beneath it.

Mistral AI keeps footnotes out of the body flow and links each marker to its note. The Markdown output places 13 footnotes after the page bodies in source order, and the 26 marker occurrences each appear once inline and once at their notes, so the association is preserved.

Mistral AI read the two-column page down each column in turn rather than across the page. On the three pages, the left and right columns stayed in order without interleaving.

Mistral AI accurately recovered text from a clean scanned document. It placed the results table’s first data row, the sampling point, in the Markdown header without losing text.

Mistral AI processed the scanned page in a mixed digital and scanned document rather than skipping it. The page appeared in document order, with tables in the same style as the digital pages.

Mistral AI preserved a simple, clearly formatted table: the returned Markdown kept the four headers in order, retained eight data rows, and matched all 32 data cells against the source. The table stayed a single pipe table, and the comma inside "Metals suite, eleven elements" did not split the cell.

Mistral AI did not keep ordinary digital text complete and unchanged. The returned Markdown preserves the body prose, but page furniture lands inside the text at four page breaks, and the raw page markdown shows the same split.