How to translate a scanned PDF and keep the layout

Use a translator built for scans: it reads the page with OCR, translates each block of text, paints out the original words and sets the translation in the same box, at the size and colour of the ink. The paper, pictures and stamps stay as they are. A plain document translator cannot do this, because a scan has no text for it to replace.

Updated 1 October 2026

Translate a scanned PDF, keeping its layout

Open the scanned translatorGo to Translate a scanned PDF and choose your PDF, or a JPG or PNG photo of a page. Sign in; accounts are free.
Pick the languageChoose the language to translate into — Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, English, French, German, Spanish and more. The language of the scan is worked out from the page.
Check the price and run itIt costs 5 credits a page, shown before anything runs. A page that could not be translated is left as it was and not charged.
Review the marked linesLines whose translation would change a number or a code, or would not fit their box, stay in the original language and are marked. Check those, then download.

Why scans need a different translator

A document translator works on text: it swaps each sentence for its translation and lets the layout reflow. A scan has no text, only pixels, so the page first has to be read with OCR, and then the translation has to be drawn back onto the picture of the page — over the old words, which have to disappear without leaving a smudge.

filedone's scanned translator lays each translated block over the scan as a patch. The paper behind the old words is filled in by our own image code from what is around it, never by a generative image model, because a model painting a page of text invents text. Every pixel outside the patches is your original.

What stays exactly as written

Numbers, amounts, dates, codes, email addresses and phone numbers are copied exactly. If a translation would change one of them, that line is kept in the original language and marked rather than risk a wrong figure. Faces are never painted over.

Honest limits

Languages written right to left, such as Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew, are not offered yet.
Translations run longer or shorter than the original. A line that will not fit its box is left in the original language and marked, so a dense page can come back partly translated.
Handwriting, very small print and blurred photos are read poorly by OCR, and what is misread is mistranslated.
The translation is machine translation by an AI model. For a legal or official purpose, have it checked by a qualified translator; it is not a certified translation.

If your PDF is not a scan

A PDF with real text is cheaper to translate and keeps its text selectable: Translate a PDF costs 3 credits a page. If you give it a scan, it hands the file to the scanned translator before anything is priced.

Questions

Can I translate a scanned PDF for free?

You can read the text out for free with Scanned PDF to text and paste it into a free translator, but you lose the layout. Keeping the layout on a scan is a paid AI job at 5 credits a page; new accounts get 20 credits.

Will the fonts match?

The translation is set in a matching font at the size, colour and slope of the original ink. A translation into Hindi, Tamil or another Indian language is set in a font made for that script.

Is my scan kept?

It is deleted from our servers after 2 hours, whether or not you download the result, and it is not used to train anything.

Is there a document I can test with?

The sample PDF for translation testing has the same notice in English, French and Spanish, so you can compare a translation with ours. The three-page sample scan is a scan to try the scanned path on.

Tools for this

Free sample files to try it on

Sample multi-page scanned PDFThree scanned pages, each skewed differently, with two tables.
Sample scanned letterA colour scan of a one-page letter, folded, with a date and an amount.
Sample PDF for translation testingOne notice, three languages, one page each — with a reference translation.