How to Translate a PDF Online Free and Keep the Layout
A contract arrives in German, a research paper is only available in English, or a manual comes in Chinese, and you need it in your own language. Copying the text page by page into a translator breaks the formatting and takes forever, and scanned pages cannot be copied at all.
Translate PDF translates the whole document in one go and rebuilds every page in the new language, with the original layout, images and colours in place. It is free, needs no account and works in any browser. This guide shows how it works, what it can and cannot do, and how to handle scans, Word files and very long PDFs.
- Open Translate PDF and add your PDF, Word file or image.
- The source language is detected automatically. Choose the language you want under Translate to.
- Pick Translated PDF to keep the layout, or Plain Text for just the words.
- Click Translate PDF and download the result. Free, no watermark, no signup.
How to translate a PDF for free, step by step
Step 1. Add your PDF or document
Drop a PDF onto the page or browse for it, or import it from Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. Word documents and images are accepted too and are converted to PDF first. If the PDF is password-protected, you are asked for the password before it is translated.
Step 2. Let the source language be detected
The original language is recognised as soon as the file is analysed and shown under Translate from. You never have to set it yourself.
Step 3. Choose the target language
Pick any of 63 languages, from English, Spanish and French to Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian and Nepali. To translate a PDF to English, simply choose English.
Step 4. Choose the output and translate
Translated PDF rebuilds each page in the new language with the original layout. Plain Text gives you just the translated words, which you can copy or download as a TXT or PDF file. Then click Translate PDF. Long documents can take a few minutes.
Step 5. Download, save or keep working
Download the result, save it back to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, create a share link, or open it straight in another tool such as PDF to Word or Compress PDF.
How the original layout is kept
The tool does not paste your text into a new, plain document. It reads every text block on the page, translates it, removes the original words and writes the translation back in the same place, with the same colour, weight and alignment. Images, graphics, tables and background colours stay exactly where they were.
Translations are often longer than the original: German, French and Spanish usually run longer than English. When a translation does not fit its box, the text is shrunk slightly so the page keeps its shape. Right-to-left scripts such as Arabic, and scripts such as Hindi and Chinese, are written with fonts made for them.
Translating scanned PDFs, Word files and images
If a PDF has no text layer, such as a scan or a photo of a document, OCR runs first to recognise the text, which is then translated. Word documents and images are converted to PDF before translating. One thing to know: pictures inside a normal PDF are kept as they are, so text that is part of an image is not translated.
A free alternative to copy-pasting into a translator
The usual workaround is to copy text out of the PDF and paste it into a translator, piece by piece. That loses headings, tables and line breaks, and it does not work on scans at all. Translate PDF handles the whole file at once and gives you back a finished PDF in the new language, ready to read, print or send.
How to translate a large PDF
Without an account you can translate one PDF of up to 50 pages and 80 MB, and up to 100 pages and 100 MB when you sign in for free. For longer documents, split the PDF into parts, translate each part, then join the translated parts back into one file.
How accurate is PDF translation?
Translations come from AI machine translation, which gives natural, readable results for most business, study and personal documents. Numbers, dates, email addresses and links normally stay unchanged and names are usually kept as written, but check names and figures in contracts and invoices.
For official use, such as visa applications, university admissions or court papers, authorities usually require a certified or sworn translation by a qualified translator. Machine translation is ideal for understanding a document, not for replacing that.
Privacy and security
Files are uploaded over HTTPS and deleted from our servers as soon as the translation finishes. To produce the translation, the text of your document is processed by a machine-translation service, and your file is never published or shared for any other purpose. If you create a share link, that copy stays available until the link expires.
Frequently asked questions
Can I translate a PDF to English for free?
Yes. Upload the PDF, choose English as the target language and click Translate PDF. The original language is detected automatically, the whole document is translated in one go, and the result keeps the original layout. It is free, with no watermark and no account needed.
Does translating a PDF keep the original formatting?
Yes. Each text block is translated and written back in the same place, with the original colour and weight, and images, graphics and background colours are kept. When a translation is longer than the original, the text is shrunk slightly to fit its box.
Can I translate a scanned PDF?
Yes. If the PDF has no text layer, such as a scan or a photo of a document, OCR recognises the text first and it is then translated. Clean, high-resolution scans give the best results.
Is there a free alternative to Google Translate for PDFs?
Yes. iHatePDF Translate PDF is free, needs no account and gives you back a finished PDF in the new language with the original layout, so there is nothing to copy, paste or reformat. You can also choose plain text if you only need the words.
Which languages can I translate a PDF into?
63 target languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian and Nepali. Right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew are supported.
Can I translate a PDF on my phone?
Yes. The translator works in the browser on Android and iPhone, with no app to install. Choose the PDF from your files, pick the language and download the translated PDF to your phone.
How do I translate a PDF longer than 100 pages?
Split it into parts first. Without an account each translation can have up to 50 pages and 80 MB, and up to 100 pages and 100 MB when you sign in. Translate each part, then merge the translated parts back into one PDF.
Can I get the translation as a Word document?
Yes. Translate the PDF first, then open the result in PDF to Word from the result screen to get an editable Word file. If your source is already a Word document, upload it directly: it is converted to PDF and translated.
Are my files safe when I translate a PDF online?
Files are uploaded over HTTPS and deleted from our servers as soon as the translation finishes. To produce the translation, the text of your document is processed by a machine-translation service, and your file is never published or shared for any other purpose. If you create a share link, that copy stays available until the link expires.
Free, no signup, no watermark. 63 languages, layout kept.
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