Got a document in another language? You don’t have to translate it paragraph by paragraph. Google Translate accepts whole Word files, PDFs, presentations, and spreadsheets, with separate options for scanned pages and text you’re reading on your phone.
Upload your document to Google Translate
For a complete document on a computer, start with Google Translate’s document uploader. It accepts .docx, .pdf, .pptx, and .xlsx files up to 10 MB, with a 300-page limit for PDFs.
Open translate.google.com in your desktop browser and select Documents.
Choose the source and target languages. Select Detect language for the source if you don’t know the original language.
Click Browse your files to select your document. The button also appears as Browse your computer.
Alternatively, drag your file into Drop file here under Drag and drop.
Click Translate.
Once the translation finishes, click Download translation to save it.
Check a file that won’t translate
Start with the upload limits: a supported extension, no more than 10 MB, and no more than 300 pages for a PDF. Older formats such as .doc, .txt, and .rtf aren’t accepted by the current document uploader.
A PDF meeting those limits still needs readable text. Document uploads do not translate text inside images or scanned PDF pages.
For an unsupported file with selectable text, copy a passage of no more than 5,000 characters.
Open Google Translate and choose the source and target languages.
Paste the passage into the source text box. This translates the words without preserving the document’s layout.
Select Copy translation to retrieve the result.
If you can’t select and copy the text, use the Google Drive text-extraction method below. For a page photo or screenshot, use Images as described in the final section.
Translate a file already in Google Docs
On a computer, Google Docs creates a translated copy that you can also download.
- 1.Open the document in Google Docs using a Google account with access to the file.
- 2.For an Office file, convert it to Google Docs format first, creating a separate copy. Translation is unavailable in Microsoft Office editing mode.
- 3.Select Tools > Translate document.
- 4.Enter a name for the translated copy and select the target language.
- 5.Click Translate. The copy opens in another window and is saved in Google Drive.
- 6.To save it on your computer, open the translated copy and select File > Download, then choose the desired file type.
Turn scanned pages into translatable text
For scanned PDFs, including multipage files, Google Drive extracts text for translation in Google Docs. It also accepts JPEG, PNG, and GIF images; Google recommends files of 2 MB or less for text recognition.
Upload the PDF or image to Google Drive on a computer.
Right-click the uploaded file and select Open with > Google Docs to extract its text.
Review the extracted document before translating. Text recognition does not reliably preserve lists, tables, columns, footnotes, or endnotes.
Select Tools > Translate document.
Enter a name for the translated copy.
Choose the target language.
Click Translate.
To download the translated copy, select File > Download in that copy and choose a file type.
Read document passages on your phone
Copy the passage you need from the document. The Google Translate apps on Android, iPhone, and iPad translate pasted text without importing and exporting a formatted document.
Choose your languages in the Google Translate app. On Android, the source selector is at the bottom left and the target selector is at the bottom right. On iPhone and iPad, both selectors are at the bottom.
Paste the copied text into the input area. On iPhone and iPad, the translation appears automatically.
On Android, tap Translate if the result doesn’t appear automatically. Repeat for additional passages.
Translate a page photo or screenshot
Image translation handles photographed or screenshotted pages that document uploads leave untranslated.
Open Google Translate in a desktop browser and select Images.
Choose the source and target languages.
Click Browse your files, also labeled Browse your computer, to select the page image. Supported formats are .jpg, .jpeg, .png, and .webp.
After translation, select Copy text to retrieve the translated words.
For a downloadable translated image, click Download translation.
To compare the translation with the original page, select Show original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I upload a document from an iPad?
Yes. Google supports browser document translation on medium-to-large screens, including iPads. Open Google Translate in your iPad browser and select Documents to upload the file.
Can Google Translate translate documents offline?
Offline camera translation works for downloadable languages in the mobile apps. While connected, open Camera and use the language picker to download the required languages. On iPhone and iPad, download both source and target languages. This supports camera translation, not offline document uploads or Google Docs translation.
Does changing the language in Google Docs translate the document?
No. File > Language changes the typing language. It does not translate existing document text.
Do I need the Google Translate Chrome extension?
No. Document uploads work without the extension. The extension translates selected webpage text; Google has removed its whole-page translation feature. For a document published as an HTML webpage, use Chrome’s built-in Translate icon in the address bar.