Forum Discussion
How to translate a PDF without copying text into a translator?
I’m reading some PDF documents in another language and need help understanding certain paragraphs as I go. Switching between the PDF and a translation website every time interrupts the reading, espec...
For the reading experience you describe, Zotero with the Translate for Zotero add-on is worth considering. Zotero keeps the PDF open, while the add-on provides translation for selected text.
The setup is roughly:
- Install the free Zotero desktop application and add your PDFs.
- Download a compatible release of the translation add-on and install its .xpi file through Zotero’s plugin manager.
- Configure a translation service and target language in the add-on’s settings.
- Open a PDF in Zotero, select a passage, and use the add-on’s translation action. Read the result in its translation panel alongside the document.
Make sure the add-on release supports your Zotero version. Zotero and the add-on are free, but the translation service you select may require an API key or charge for usage.
This is particularly useful for research papers you want to organise, annotate and revisit. It isn’t an OCR solution: scanned pages need a searchable text layer first.