diff --git a/src/archivist/extract/index.js b/src/archivist/extract/index.js
index 30d2f999b..dc62e5fe6 100644
--- a/src/archivist/extract/index.js
+++ b/src/archivist/extract/index.js
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ export default async function extract(sourceDocument) {
     if (sourceDocument.mimeType == mime.getType('pdf')) {
       return await extractFromPDF(sourceDocument);
     }
+    if (sourceDocument.mimeType == mime.getType('txt') || sourceDocument.mimeType == mime.getType('md')) {
+      return await extractFromMd(sourceDocument);
+    }
 
     return await extractFromHTML(sourceDocument);
   } catch (error) {
@@ -126,6 +129,14 @@ export async function extractFromPDF({ location, content: pdfBuffer }) {
   return markdownContent;
 }
 
+export async function extractFromMd({ location, content: markdownContent }) {
+  if (!markdownContent) {
+    throw new Error(`The markdown file at '${location}' contains no text`);
+  }
+
+  return markdownContent;
+}
+
 function selectRange(webPageDOM, rangeSelector) {
   const { startBefore, startAfter, endBefore, endAfter } = rangeSelector;