How To Translate Scanned PDF? (3 Proven Ways)

When you scan a hard-copy document, PDF is the most preferable format for saving it. Such documents enjoy all PDF properties apart from easy copying and translation. So, if you ever need that PDF document in another language, that can be troublesome unless you know one of our ways to translate scanned PDFs. With the help of UPDF, Google Translate, and Google Docs, you can easily translate your PDFs into different languages.

Part 1. How to Translate a Scanned PDF With UPDF?

The first and most reliable method of translating your scanned PDF documents is by using UPDF. UPDF is a PDF editing tool with many features, including enterprise-grade translation performance. Its UPDF AI feature allows you to instantly translate one language to any other language, and it maintains instant performance regardless of the size of text to be translated.

Moreover, it offers amazing translation accuracy, so you can change the content to a different language without losing important information. If you want to translate your scanned PDF documents with UPDF, you can download UPDF and use one of the methods below:

Way 1. Translate Some Parts of a Scanned PDF

There are scenarios where you only want to translate a specific part of a PDF document into another language.

For example, you have a book where some paragraphs are written in the native language. In that case, you may need to translate only that instead of the whole book, and here are the steps to translate some parts of the PDF documents:

1. Open PDF file in UPDF for translating

Double-click your UPDF desktop icon to run it and open the PDF file using the “Ctrl O” button combination for the quickest experience. When your PDF opens, you will go to the PDF reader mode.

2. Perform OCR feature on PDF file.

To translate the scanned PDF, you must first convert it into detectable text. The UPDF OCR feature will be your best choice since it offers up to 99% accuracy for your documents. So, click the “OCR” button on the right and perform OCR using UPDF. This process may take seconds before the OCR-processed file is saved on your PC.

3. Use the UPDF AI translation feature.

You need to open that OCR-performed file in UPDF if it does not open automatically. Press “Ctrl E” or locate the UPDF AI icon in the bottom right. Copy the part of the PDF document you need to scan, click on “Chat”, choose the “Translate” in the “Prompt”, choose the destination language. Paste the content in the message box and press “Send” icon to translate that part into the required language. It will instantly provide you with the translation.

Way 2. Translate the Entire Scanned PDF

Say that you scanned a document, and the complete document is in another language you cannot understand. In this case, you must translate the scanned PDF document in your native language. UPDF can do that for you, too, with a slightly different process, as shown in steps below:

1. Open UPDF and perform OCR on your file

Run the UPDF tool on a PC with the desktop icon or start-menu listing. Once it runs, you will open the PDF file using “Open File” to display it in the PDF reader mode. There, you will press “OCR” button from right pane and then follow the on-screen steps to perform OCR on the scanned PDF document.

2. Convert OCR PDF to Word

After OCR processing, the file will be saved, and it may open automatically on UPDF. Otherwise, you can manually open it. Go to right pane once again and click the “Export PDF” button. Select “Word” and then follow the on-screen steps to convert that OCR-processed document into a Word file.

3. Copy contents and translate using UPDF AI.

Open that Word document and copy all its contents. Now go to UPDF and open UPDF AI by clicking its icon on bottom right side. Now, make sure you are in “Chat” mode, click “Prompt”, “Translate” and select the language you need, then, paste those contents into UPDF AI. When you hit “Enter, ” UPDF AI will instantly start translating that content.

Or you can directly translate any text in the scanned PDF by clicking.

Part 2. How to Translate Scanned PDFs in Google Translate?

Google Translate is a common name that comes to mind whenever you need to translate something. It can translate text, images, documents, and even web pages. However, it is still not capable enough to translate scanned PDF documents. So, we can get some help from the UPDF OCR feature, and then it will be possible to use Google Translate for the translation.

This method can be a reliable option for when you want to translate without copying all the contents of a document and want to upload the document for translation. Here are the steps to follow on UPDF and Google Translate for translating your scanned PDF documents.

1. Open PDF in UPDF to perform OCR on it

Start with opening the PDF document in UPDF. Run UPDF with its desktop icon, drag-and-drop your PDF file in it, and from the right-pane menu, you will click “OCR” button. You may follow the on-screen steps to perform OCR for the rest of the process.

2. Open OCR PDF in UPDF to convert to Word

Wait until OCR is complete; once it is done, you will open the PDF again in UPDF, and this time, use the “Export PDF” feature to convert your OCR PDF into a Word Document.

3. Upload Word file to Google Translate for translation

Now, you must open the Google Translate website on your browser, select “Documents” for translation, and upload the Word file. Select the target language and click “Translate.” Google Translate instantly translates your document and gives you the “Download Translation” button.

Part 3. How to Translate Scanned PDF Online Free Via Google Docs

The last method for translating a scanned PDF document in different languages is with the help of Google Docs. It is a good choice for online and on-the-go translation, but remember that the process is not as straightforward as Google Translate or UPDF. So, you can follow these steps and translate with Google Docs.

1. Open your PDF file in Google Docs from Drive.

Open Google Drive on your PC and open the PDF file in Google Docs. You cannot open a PDF directly in Google Docs, and if you have it in the offline storage, upload it to Google Drive first by clicking the “+” button on Drive.

2. Select translate from tools.

As the scanned PDF opens in Docs, click “Tools” tab and select “Translate Document”.

3. Set the translation language and name.

You must set the name for the translated document file and the language you want to translate. Select a language from the dropdown menu and then click “Translate.”

4. Download your translated file.

The translated file will open in a new document. Now you can choose “Download” option from “File” tab and select the desired file format for downloading it to your offline storage.

Part 4. Which Method is Better to Translate Scanned PDF?

Translating PDF content is not an issue, and there are many ways to do that, but translating them can be a little complex if you work on scanned PDF documents. With the 3 options discussed here, if you cannot decide which one to opt for, this comparison table will help.

The table shows that UPDF is the best option among all three. It always provides the best results, whether we consider its features or the user experience. One of the best things about UPDF is that it offers a 63% discount on the Pro version, so you can download and try it now.

Part 5. FAQS About Translating Scanned PDF

Q1. Can Google translate a scanned PDF?

No, Google Translate can translate text, images, documents, and web pages but cannot translate scanned documents.

Q2. How do I translate text from a scanned image?

You can use UPDF to first convert that text in image to detectable text and then UPDF AI can help you translate that text by following above steps.

Q3. What is the best translator for scanned documents?

There are several online and offline options that you can use. UPDF is one of the best translators for scanned documents since it has built-in UPDF AI, OCR, and all other features to meet all your translation requirements.

Final Words

Working on scanned PDF documents that are not in your language can be frustrating since you cannot understand them. However, you can easily translate scanned PDF with the methods discussed above. If you use UPDF for the process, you can translate and make that translated content into an editable PDF document again. Hence, your productivity and efficiency while working with those documents will increase.