Translate a document

Hand Inkling a Word document, a PowerPoint deck or an Excel workbook and get the same file back in another language, with its layout where it was. A PDF’s text comes back as a Word file.

Before you start#

• Inkling translates Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), Excel (.xlsx) and PDF files. The size and page limits are under Limits.
• Pro currently includes 200 document pages a month. Document pages in Plan and usage shows what is left.

Translate a file#

1. On Translate, choose Document in the Text | Document switch, or press Attach a file under the text pane. Both open the same drop zone.
2. Set the pair. Leave the source on Detect or choose it, then choose the target.
3. Drop the file on “Drop a file, or choose one.”, or press Choose a file.
4. Follow the progress card. Its rows read Uploading (then Reading), Translating with a page count such as 9 / 14, and Building file. The footer gives an estimate, such as “About 40 seconds left”, and your month, such as “14 of 200 Pro pages this month”.
5. When the file is built, the result opens at its own address. See Review and download a translated document.

What comes back#

Word, PowerPoint and Excel are translated in place: the file you download is the file you uploaded, with its text replaced.

• Word: tables, headers and footers, footnotes and endnotes, images and page-number fields stay where they were. The text in headers, footers, footnotes and endnotes is translated too.
• PowerPoint: slides, layouts, tables, images, and slide-number and date fields stay as they were. Text inside charts and SmartArt is left untranslated.
• Excel: cells stay where they were. Formulas, numbers and dates, sheet names, defined names and charts are left alone, and cell comments and print headers and footers are not translated.

A PDF is different. As the drop zone says, “PDF comes back as a Word file — the text, not the layout.” You also get a PDF copy when Inkling has a font for the target language’s script; see Supported languages.

Kept as they are#

Once the pages are translated, while the file is built, the card lists what this particular file contained and what was left alone, for example “3 tables, columns intact”, “12 slides, laid out as they are”, “40 formulas, left to recalculate” or “1 page had no text”. If any passage could not be translated, it says so: “1 passage, left untranslated”.

How pages are counted#

A file costs the larger of its own pages and its characters divided by 1,800. In PowerPoint a slide is a page; in Excel a sheet is. A 1-slide deck holding 9,000 characters costs 5 pages. The pages are reserved when the upload is accepted, and the month resets at 00:00 UTC on the 1st.

Cancel stops the job: “Stopped. Only the N pages already translated count against this month.” The same applies if a translation fails partway. Then press Choose another file.

If your file is refused#

The sentence under the drop zone says why:

• “Only PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files can be translated.”
• “That file is N MB — the limit is 50 MB.” Word, PowerPoint and Excel files over 25 MB are refused after upload with a size message.
• “Files with macros are not translated. Save it without macros and try again.”
• “That looks like an older or password-protected Office file. Save it as .docx and try again.”
• “That PDF is password-protected. Remove the password and try again.”
• “This PDF has no text layer. Scanned pages are not supported yet.”
• “That file could not be opened. It may be damaged.”
• “That document has N pages — the limit is 300.”
• “That document holds more text than one translation can carry. Split it and try again.”
• “You have N pages left this month; this document needs M.”
• “Finish or stop your current document first.”
• “Your documents are using N MB of M MB. Files are removed 24 hours after they are translated; try again once some have gone.”

With no pages left at all, you see “No pages left this month” with “You have used this month’s pages.”, the date they come back, and Paste the text instead.

Limits#

These are the current numbers; Free includes no document pages. The drop zone’s own line reads “Up to 50 MB · 300 pages · files are deleted after 24 hours”, but the tighter 25 MB limit for Word, PowerPoint and Excel applies all the same.

Good to know#

• A sentence broken by a footnote mark, a field or a line break is translated in 2 parts, and can read stiffly. Formatting that changes mid-sentence, such as 3 bold words, takes the formatting of the sentence’s start.
• If a posted status pauses document translation, “Paused right now” appears under Choose a file. See Service status. If the server is not set up to take documents, the upload is refused with “Document translation is paused on this server. Pasted text still works.” Nothing is charged either way.