How to Translate Scanned PDF to English in 3 Simple Ways

Translating a regular PDF document may be one of the easiest options if you can use the right tools. But have you ever imagined you may also need to translate a scanned PDF file?

Well, you need a highly powerful PDF translation for the task. In this post, we will discuss the best options to help you translate a scanned PDF into another language.

How to Translate a Scanned PDF File to English with AI Using PDFgear

PDFgear is a robust and powerful AI PDF editor. You can extract text from a scanned PDF thanks to its OCR feature. The integration of the GPT-3.5 capability has become a promising option for translating your scanned PDFs into any language.

Unlike other PDF translators, PDFgear has no limitations on the size or number of pages in the PDF files you want to translate. There are still plenty of editing tools available for modifying the translated PDF.

Step 1. Launch PDFgear and add your PDF file to the tool. To do this, you can click on Open File and add your PDF file.

Step 2. Once the scanned PDF is added, use the OCR feature to extract the text from the file.

Click on OCR, select the part of the document or the entire document, and click on Done. 

Step 3. Copy and paste the extracted text into the chat window. You can invoke the chatbot by clicking on the icon at the bottom right corner.

Step 4. Click on Copy text to the clipboard and then paste the text in the chat window.

Ask the chatbot to translate the text the text to any appropriate language.

How to Translate a Scanned PDF Document to English with Google Docs

Translating a scanned PDF file into any language is not easy. Detecting the text in the scanned PDF file does not come that easy for most of the tools. The characters in a scanned file and their fonts may get quite confusing for any tool.

However, Google Docs has been observed to be a capable tool in helping you detect the language and translate the PDF into any language including English. Google Docs is an excellent option for translating any PDF file.

Step 1. Open Google Docs. Choose the PDF file and add it to your Google Docs. If it is already available on Google Drive, open it from there.

Step 2. Open the file with Google Docs. To do this, you can click on Open With and select Google Docs. 

Step 3. Google Docs will convert the file into Word and open it in its interface. Click on the Tools menu and select the Translate Document option.

Step 4. Choose English as the translation language and click Translate. This will translate the document into English (or whichever language you have chosen).

Once the document is translated, you can use the Print to PDF feature to save it back into PDF.

How to Translate Scanned PDFs Online with DocTranslator

DocTranslator uses OCR technology to recognize and convert the text in your scanned PDF into editable text before translating it. It’s recommended to ensure that the scan is clear and all text is legible to achieve the best translation results.

DocTranslator utilizes the latest technology in machine learning (AI) to provide human-like quality translations. It can translate large PDF files up to 1 GB in size and 5000 pages in length. Moreover, if your file is less than 1000 words, DocTranslator translates it for free.

Step 1. Sign up for a free account on the DocTranslator website.

Step 2. Go to the Translate PDF to English page on DocTranslator.com. Choose your file by clicking on the “Choose a File” button, or drag and drop your scanned PDF.

Step 3. Choose the original language of your document and select English as the target language.

Step 4. After selecting the languages, upload your document and wait for the translation to process. The time it takes may vary depending on the file size.

Step 5. Once the translation is complete, you can download the translated document.

FAQs

Can a Scanned PDF be Translated?

Yes, scanned PDFs can be translated. However, not every OCR tool may be able to extract the text from a scanned document. The best option may be to use tools like PDFgear to extract the characters from the document and then translate them into any of your preferred languages.

Can ChatGPT Translate a Scanned Document?

ChatGPT 4 can translate a regular PDF. When it comes to translating a scanned PDF document, the text cannot be directly extracted for translation. For documents like this, the text needs to be recognized through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) before it can be translated.

How to Translate a Scanned PDF with Google Translate?

Google Translate can’t translate a scanned PDF directly. You’d better convert your scanned PDF to an editable format before translating it with Google Translate.

How to Translate a Scanned Image or Picture?

Google Translate can be a good option to help you translate a scanned image or picture. Launch Google Translate, select the Images tab, and upload your file. Select the language and click on translate.

In Conclusion

Translating a scanned PDF is possible with the right PDF editing tools. However, there are some inherent problems associated with the scanned PDFs. It may not be that easy to extract the content from a scanned PDF. If you use a good tool to extract the PDF content, translating it further should not be a tough task with tools such as PDFgear, which is a perfect AI PDF translator.

The success of an effective translation of a scanned PDF will primarily be based on the efficiency in recognizing and extracting the text or characters in the scanned PDF file. Not every tool may be able to extract the content on the scanned PDF file. However, with the best PDF chat capability, PDFgear does offer you excellent functionality.