How to translate a PDF without copying text into a translator?

DeepL’s desktop app is useful when you want to translate a passage without repeatedly opening a website. It isn’t a PDF reader, but it can work alongside the one you already use.

Open your PDF, select a paragraph, and use the translation shortcut configured in DeepL’s settings. The selected text opens in DeepL’s translation window. Keep that window beside the PDF so you can compare the translation with the original.

This works best with PDFs containing selectable text. Image-only scans need OCR before the selection shortcut can pick up their words.

DeepL also supports whole-PDF translation through its file-translation feature. Free access has limits, while paid plans provide higher allowances and additional features. For your usual paragraph-by-paragraph reading, the desktop shortcut is the more convenient starting point. Text is sent to DeepL for translation, so consider that for confidential documents.