Have you downloaded a PDF document in English, or another language, and need to translate it? One of the problems it has is that a PDF is not an editable document, and copying the content can cause it to become unformatted where you paste it. So, how to translate a PDF?
If you have ever encountered this dilemma and did not know how to do it, you will be able to find the solution here. Take a look at the options you have to get it easily without having to resort to rewriting the entire document in the other language.
The easiest way to translate a PDF
As we have told you, Translating a PDF, being a non-editable document, is complicated. Because you would have to open the PDF and put another document next to it and do a "copy and paste" and then start reviewing it line by line, joining some, replacing missing letters, etc.
However, the truth is that there are other, simpler ways to do it, which will also only take a few seconds.
What are those? We discuss them below.
Google Translate
Imagine that they have sent you a PDF in English, Italian, Chinese... and you have no idea what it says there. Well then, One of the ways to translate a PDF is using Google Translate.
To do this, you have to go to the tool. Of course, you should know that the steps in a computer browser and in the app may be different.
If you use the computer browser, The steps you should take are the following:
Open Google Translate. Once there, by default you will see the box where you can write in the language you don't know and translate it into one you do. But if you look, at the top there is the "documents" option.
Now you must choose the language in which the PDF is (if you know it, if not, you can leave "detect language" as the default), and the language to translate it into.
Next, upload the PDF. And whoever says PDF says doc, docx, odf, txt, xlsx, ppt...
Once uploaded, you just have to hit the translate button and it will show you the result in the browser, although If you want you can also save it in PDF already translated.
If you have the mobile application installed (or are going to install it), to translate a PDF the steps are somewhat more complex.
And the app cannot translate documents, but it can translate what you have on the clipboard. So you have to go to Settings and the Tap to translate option. This will allow, when selecting part of the PDF and copying it, a Google Translate icon appears to translate.
Google Docs
Having a Gmail account is something that practically everyone has. And that implies that you also have Drive. Well then, You could upload that PDF to your Drive account and, when it comes to opening it, just do it with Google Docs (or Google Documents).
In a few seconds the format will have changed to show you the PDF as if it were a Word.
But how to translate it? To do this, you have to go to the Tools tab and, there, you will find an option that is "translate document." It will ask you for the language you want it to be translated into and when you click the translate button You will already have it translated in a new tab (it does not do so by overwriting the document).
Then, with this new document, you can download it and use it like a normal PDF (only translated).
Word
Another option you have to translate a PDF is to use Word. That's right, it's another easy and simple way, which not many know, but which is available.
To do this, you have to open the PDF in Word (don't worry, it can be done) and then go to File, save as, and choose it as a Word file.
Once you do, you can edit the text and then you can go to the Review section.
Click on language and it will give you several options, one of them being Translate document. In doing so, You will see a box on the right where you must choose the original language of the text (or hit it to automatically detect) and the translation you want to do. Click on the Translate button and in a matter of seconds you will have the document in Spanish (or the language you want).
With third-party tools
If you do not want to use Google Translate or Word, the option you may have is to use third-party tools. That is, web pages with tools that allow you to translate documents.
Now, and As with Translate, we are talking about uploading a document to the Internet and, with this, losing control of what is done with it. If they are important and confidential documents, this can pose a security risk because you will not know if copies are made, if they are stored and for how long, etc.
Among the pages that you could use to translate a PDF we can recommend:
- IlovePDF.
- SmallPDF.
- Canva.
- Online Doc Translator.
- DeepL (which they say is one of the best programs to translate correctly).
- Adobe RoboHelp.
Of course, you should know that, sometimes, since they are free tools, there may be errors in the translations or even the PDF layout may be lost and that the sentences appear cut into several lines or with strange symbols (so you would have to review it thoroughly before using it as you want).
As you can see, translating a PDF is quite simple now. Although it never hurts, when you translate it, to take a look to see if what it says in the document is coherent and can be read properly. Do not assume that by using these tools the translation will be fine because many use literal word-for-word translation, and sometimes it has another type of meaning that would be lost when changing languages. Have you ever used these tools to translate a PDF? Did you know them?