How to Translate a PDF Between Arabic and English

PDFly guide · Updated October 2026

Translating a document usually means copying text out of a PDF, pasting it into a translator, and then rebuilding the layout by hand. PDFly's Translate PDF tool does the whole job in one place: it reads the text, translates it between Arabic and English, lets you check the result, and gives you a new PDF.

Step by step

1. Open the PDF. Drop it on the Translate PDF page. The file is read in your browser and the language is detected automatically, so Arabic is translated to English and English to Arabic. You can also choose the direction yourself.
2. Pick the output. Keep the original design is the default. It keeps your pages, images and colours and replaces only the text. Clean text document gives a simple reflowed document instead.
3. Translate. Press the button and wait. Long documents are handled in parts and a progress bar shows how far along it is.
4. Review and edit. Each page shows the original on one side and the translation on the other. Fix any wording you do not like. Keep the blank line between paragraphs so every translation stays in its place.
5. Download. Save the translated PDF, or the plain text, or copy the translation.

Where does the translation happen?

Your PDF file is never uploaded. In recent versions of Chrome the browser has a built-in translator, so the text is translated on your own device, and it may download a small language model the first time. If your browser does not have one, only the extracted text, not the file, is sent to a translation service and it is not stored.

What it keeps, and what it does not

• Kept: page size, images, colours, shapes, sidebars and the position of each block of text.
• Changed: the font. The translation is written in PDFly's own fonts, and Arabic is shaped and written right to left.
• Left alone: emails, links, numbers and text that is already in the target language.
• Not supported: scanned pages. A scan has no real text, so run it through OCR PDF first.

Tips for a clean result

• Use a PDF with real, selectable text. If you cannot select a word with the mouse, it is a scan.
• Read the translation, especially names, numbers and technical terms. Machine translation is good for understanding and drafts, but it can make mistakes.
• For legal, medical or official documents, have a professional translator check the final version.
• If a very complex layout looks crowded, switch to Clean text document.