Translate PDF Documents — English, Thai & More
Pull the text out of a PDF automatically and translate it with Google Translate into English, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and more.
This tool extracts the text from your PDF and opens Google Translate with that text already filled in. You can pick from 11 target languages. Alternatively, a button opens Google Translate's document mode, where you upload the file to Google yourself — in that case the whole file goes to Google, and Google's own size and page limits apply.
How to translate a PDF (3 steps)
- Open your PDF and choose the target language.
- Click to prepare the translation. The text is extracted and split into parts.
- Translate one part at a time — each opens Google Translate with the text filled in.
How it works
All the text in the file is read inside your browser, then split into parts of up to about 4,000 characters each, because Google Translate accepts roughly 5,000 characters at a time. Each part has a button that opens Google Translate with the text, and a copy button so you can paste it in yourself.
Target languages you can choose: Thai, English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, French, German, and Spanish.
What to know about privacy
The PDF file itself is never sent to MyPDF's servers. However, when you open a part in Google Translate, the text of that part is sent to Google to be translated. If the document is confidential or contains personal data, redact the sensitive information first, or translate only the parts you need.
Limitations
- The result is translated text on the Google Translate page, not a PDF laid out like the original.
- Scanned files have no text to read. Run them through OCR first.
- Tables, headers, and columns may come out in a different order from the original. Review important content before relying on it.
- For legal or official documents that must be formally submitted, use a certified translator.
FAQ
Which languages can I translate into?
Thai, English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, French, German, Spanish, and other languages available in Google Translate.
Can I translate a scanned file?
A scanned file is an image. Use the OCR tool to extract the text first, then translate it.
Can I get a translation that keeps the original layout?
Use the translate-whole-file button to open Google's document translation page and upload your file there. Google returns a translated file. Note that the file is sent to Google.
Why is the text split into several parts?
Google Translate accepts about 5,000 characters at a time, so the text is split into parts of up to about 4,000 characters, breaking at paragraphs where possible.
Why doesn't the open button work for some parts?
Links have a maximum length, and text in Thai, Chinese, or Japanese becomes much longer when encoded into a link. For those parts, use the copy button and paste the text into Google Translate yourself.