Documents

Documents takes a file, translates the text inside it on your device, and gives back the same kind of file with the same formatting. Drop it on the home box or on the Documents page; the page recognises the kind by its contents, not just its name, so a misnamed file is handled as what it is. Several files at once go to the work queue.

What it takes

Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), Excel (.xlsx), EPUB ebooks, subtitles (.srt and .vtt), Markdown, CSV, RTF, XLIFF and plain text. PDFs have their own page because a PDF is a picture of a page, not a text file, and needs different handling. Pictures go to Pictures.

How it works

The file is opened in your browser. Its text runs are extracted in order, translated sentence by sentence with the same engine and checks as Translate, and written back into the original structure: headings stay headings, bold stays bold, table cells stay in their cells, slide text stays on its slide. The status line counts sentences, not pages, because that is what takes the time.

Nothing is uploaded. The estimate on the status line is measured as it goes, so a long report tells you early how long it will take on your machine.

Reviewing in the Desk

When the document is done it opens in the Desk: the source and the translation side by side, sentence by sentence, with the notes the checks raised. Edit any sentence, and the export button (it names the kind: Export .docx, and so on) writes your edited sentences back into the original file — for .docx this keeps the document's own formatting runs, so the exported file is your file with new text, not a reconstruction.

Limits, honestly

• Text inside a picture is read and translated, and arrives as a caption directly under that picture — the image itself is left exactly as it was, because redrawing words into a picture is how a figure gets destroyed. Screenshots, exported charts and pasted tables are all covered, in .docx, .pptx, .xlsx and .epub. This needs the browser or the desktop app; the command-line tool translates the document's words but does not read its pictures.
• A longer target language makes lines wrap differently. Layout follows the text; it is not re-fitted.
• Very large files work, but the browser holds the whole document in memory; the desktop app is the better home for those.

Does the file leave my computer?

No. It is opened, translated and rebuilt in your browser or app.

Can I translate several files at once?

Yes. Drop two or more files and they go to My work as a queue, translated in order with a status line per row; a finished document opens in the Desk, a finished PDF in the PDF viewer.

What about PDFs?

Use the PDF tool. It handles both PDFs with a text layer and scanned ones, and it exports a PDF.