3-step guide

How to Translate Scanned PDF

Get your scanned PDF back in another language, page for page, without retyping a single line.

Drop your scanned PDF

Up to 100 MB. See the exact price before you pay.

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Short answer

A scanned PDF is a picture of text. No translator can read it until OCR (text recognition) turns that picture into words, which is why Google Translate leaves scanned pages untranslated. Upload the scan here and OCR and translation run in one job. You download a translated PDF with the same pages. Is your scan under 2 MB? Google Docs can do it free (steps below).

Per file, PDFs up to 1,000 pages
100 MB
Price shown before payment
Exact
Free words with a verified account
3,000
Re-run or refund on eligible jobs
7 days

The problem

Why your scanned PDF won't translate

A scanner saves a photo of each page. A photo has no letters a translator can read, so you hit one of these walls:

  • You run it through Google Translate and the scanned pages come back in the original language.
  • You try to copy a sentence, and nothing highlights.
  • You start retyping it by hand. Then you count the pages.

What retyping costs you

A 200-page scanned bookabout 60,000 words

Retype it, then translate≈ 25 hours

Three full workdays before you translate a single word.

Upload it herea few minutes

Estimate: 300 words a page, typed at 40 words a minute. Price is today's guest rate with layout preservation and the per-document fee included.

The tutorial

How to translate a scanned PDF in 3 steps

Your part takes a few minutes. OCR and translation happen after you upload.

  1. 1

    Upload the scanned PDF

    Drag the file into the upload box. Book scans, office scans and PDFs that mix scanned and digital pages all work, up to 100 MB and 1,000 pages. Only have paper? Scan it into a PDF first.

  2. 2

    Check the price and pick a language

    OCR reads every page and counts the words. You see the exact price, choose from 70 languages and pay once. No account or subscription needed.

  3. 3

    Download the translated PDF

    The translation goes back onto the same pages, so paragraphs, headings and page numbers stay where they were. You get an email when it's ready.

Upload your scanned PDF

Real files, real output

See a real scan before and after

A yellowed page from a 1907 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, translated to Spanish. Nobody touched the output. Drag the handle to compare.

English→EspañolScanned PDF

A 1907 scan of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

  • The yellowed page was read with OCR, then translated
  • Paragraphs, the running head and the page number stay in place
  • Dialogue uses Spanish «comillas» and ¡inverted marks!

Public-domain scan (archive.org), pages 25–27 of 344. Unedited output from our document-quality run. A faint trace of the source text can remain on aged scans.

Español translation: A 1907 scan of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
English original: A 1907 scan of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Original · EnglishTranslated · Español

The free way

Translate a small scan free with Google Docs

If your scan is short, under 2 MB, and you only need to read the text, Google's free tools can handle it.

  1. 1Upload the scanned PDF to Google Drive.
  2. 2Right-click it and choose Open with > Google Docs. Drive runs OCR and makes an editable copy.
  3. 3In that copy, choose Tools > Translate document, pick a language and click Translate.
  4. 4Read the translated copy that Google Docs opens.

Limits from Google's help pages: lists, tables, columns and footnotes are not likely to be detected, and you end up with a text document instead of your original pages.

Only need to search the scan in its own language? You don't need a translation for that. Make the PDF searchable instead.

Which way fits your scan?
CompareGoogle DocsPageTranslate
File size2 MB or smallerUp to 100 MB
Long scansSplit into small files firstOne upload, up to 1,000 pages
What you getA Google Doc with the textA translated PDF with the same pages
Tables and columnsNot likely to be detectedKept on the page; dense ones can shift
CostFreePer word, exact price before you pay

Before you upload

Scanned PDF translation questions

Which languages can my scan be in?

Scans written in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish are read reliably. Scans in other scripts, such as Chinese, Japanese or Arabic, are not, so upload a PDF with selectable text for those. You can translate into any of 70 languages.

Can I translate a scanned PDF to English?

Yes, if the scan is in French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish. Upload it, choose English, and you download an English PDF with the same pages.

Will the translated PDF look like my scan?

The translation is placed on the same pages, so paragraphs, headings and page numbers stay in place. On old, yellowed scans a faint trace of the original text can show behind the new text. Dense tables and magazine-style columns can shift.

What about handwriting or blurry phone photos?

Clear, straight, printed pages work best. Handwriting, low-resolution pages and crooked photos are not a reliable fit. Check the result before you rely on it.

How much does it cost to translate a scanned PDF?

You pay per 1,000 words of text found in the scan. The exact price appears after upload, before you pay. A verified free account includes 3,000 words, enough to test a chapter.

What if the translation comes out wrong?

Jobs of 50,000 words or less come with a 7-day re-run or refund guarantee. Larger jobs are eligible for re-runs or credits.

Is my scanned document private?

Uploads are encrypted in transit and at rest, and access is restricted. You keep ownership of your file and the translation.

Is this a certified translation?

No. It is an AI translation for reading and review. Court, immigration and government papers usually need a certified human translator.

Your scan, translated, without retyping a page

Upload it, see the exact price, and download a translated PDF with the same pages.

Upload your scanned PDF

Jobs of 50,000 words or less come with a 7-day re-run or refund guarantee.

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