How to export a Word document after translating foreign language documents

Key points of this article

The original text is a PDF with optional Chinese text. You can translate it first and then export it to Word. The text can be edited directly.
Chinese characters cannot be selected in the scanned document. You must use OCR to identify it before exporting, otherwise the Word document will be blank or garbled.
Only documents that need to be understood can be kept in bilingual PDF, and there is no need to convert them to Word.
After exporting, formulas, tables, legends and professional terms must be checked one by one. The results of machine translation require manual confirmation.
Before putting the translation into your own paper, unify the terminology and paragraph format in Word.

Many graduate students and researchers have encountered this situation: after using a translation tool to process foreign documents, they received a translation PDF. They wanted to move the paragraphs into their own draft of the paper, but found that the text could not be edited directly, the copied format was completely messed up, and the tables and formulas were not aligned. This article is written for readers who need to translate foreign documents into editable Word files and explain the complete process from uploading the original text to exporting to Word.

After reading, you should be able to judge which way to process your own documents, know how to export the translation to Word in OmniDoc, and know where to check after exporting. The whole process only involves three steps: translation, export and verification, and there is no need to learn additional complicated software.

How to translate and import foreign language documents into Word? One sentence conclusion

Let’s start with the conclusion: If the original text is a PDF in which text can be selected, translate it first, and then export the translated PDF to Word; if it is a scanned document, identify the text first and then export it; if it is a Word file, just translate it directly. For documents that are mainly readable, it is enough to keep the bilingual PDF, and there is no need to convert it to Word.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
The original text is a PDF with optional Chinese characters	Upload the translation, download the translation and export it to Word	The text layer is retained and can be edited directly after exporting.
The original text is a scanned copy, and Chinese characters cannot be selected.	First OCR recognition, then translate and export	The scanned document does not have a text layer, and it is impossible to obtain editable content without recognition.
The original text itself is .docx	Upload the translation directly and keep the layout	One less format conversion, more complete paragraph and table structures
Just read and understand, no need to modify	Download bilingual comparison PDF	The original text and the translated text are compared top to bottom, making reading and checking easier.
Put the translation into your own paper	Check terminology and formatting paragraph by paragraph after exporting to Word	The translation is just material, the final content must be confirmed by you

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Taking a minute to make a judgment before taking action can save you a lot of detours.

Whether text can be selected in the original text. Open the PDF and drag to select a section of text. If it can be selected, it means that it has a text layer and can be directly translated and exported; if it cannot be selected, it is probably a scanned copy and requires OCR first. This step determines whether there will be an additional identification process later.
What do you ultimately want. If you just want to read it, bilingual comparison PDF is intuitive; if you want to make corrections, quote paragraphs, and write it into a paper, you only need Word. Different goals lead to different derived meanings.
Is there a large number of formulas and tables in the literature? Formulas, complex tables and legends are prone to problems after exporting. The more complex the content, the more time you need to set aside for verification.
Is there any uniform terminology and formatting requirements for papers? The same professional word in the translation may have several translations. Before exporting, it is recommended to list the standard translations in your field to facilitate unified replacement later.
Whether it involves important conclusions. Machine translation may cause mistranslations, especially negative sentences, numerical values, and units. Content used for submission or formal citation must be confirmed sentence by sentence against the original text.

Steps to export translation to Word in OmniDoc

Let’s take a 30-page English paper as an example to walk through the process completely.

Confirm the original text type. Use the mouse to select a piece of text in the PDF. If you can select it, continue with the following steps; if you cannot select it, follow the OCR steps below.
Open omnidoc.top and upload PDF. Upload the original file of this paper.
Select the output method. Use "Translation Only" when writing a paper to facilitate direct rewriting later; select "Bilingual Verification" when you need to read and check at the same time.
Wait for the translation to complete and download the translation PDF. The translation will retain the basic structure of the original text’s layout, tables and formulas.
Install the desktop client. Go to download.omnidoc.top to download and install, supports Windows, macOS and Linux.
Open the translation with a PDF editor. If the original text is a scan or the text cannot be selected, perform OCR in the editor first to turn the text into recognizable content.
Export to Word. Select Export to Word format in the editor, save as a new .docx file, and do not overwrite the translation PDF.
Open the inspection in Word. Confirm that the file can be opened normally before proceeding to the verification work in the next section.

If you need to modify this translation frequently later, you can copy the exported Word content to the web editor of app.unidoc.top to continue editing. It supports Word-compatible editing methods and formulas.

Check each item after completion

The exported Word is a draft, not a final version. Read the following suggestions one by one.

Check items	How to see	What to do if there is a problem
Paragraph order and completeness	Against the original catalogue, turn to the end and make sure there are no missing paragraphs.	Back to the translation PDF check, the missing parts are re-exported or manually replenished
Formula	Open the formulas one by one to see if the symbols and superscripts are correct.	Compared with the original PDF correction, the complex formula can be re-entered.
Form	Check the number of rows, values and headers	When the table is misplaced, the original text shall prevail and be manually adjusted to avoid directly believing in the translated figures.
Pictures and annotations	See if the picture is displayed and whether the annotation corresponds to the picture.	Fill in the screenshot from the original when the picture is missing.
Professional terminology	Use the search function to search for common translated names to see if they are unified.	Uniformly replace it with the common translation name in the domain, and record the glossary
Special character	Pay attention to Greek letters, unit symbols and quotation marks	Correct the garbled code manually and copy the corresponding symbols in the original text if necessary
Negative sentences and numerical values	Compare the original sentence by sentence, focusing on "no", "no", "increase", "decrease" and figures	Where the conclusion is affected, the original text must prevail.

# Core comparison

There are three common ways to turn a translation into editable content, each of which has its own applicable scene.

Path	An appropriate situation	Main problem
Copy and paste the translation PDF directly	Only a few sentences are excerpted, and the format is not high.	Paragraph breaks, superscripts and tables are often confused, and the use of the whole article is inefficient.
Use a general online conversion website to convert PDF to Word, and then replace the text manually	Need to get a Word file quickly	The typesetting and formula after conversion are easy to be distorted, and the workload of checking is heavy.
Translate first, and then export Word through OmniDoc's PDF editor	The whole translation needs to be put in the draft of the paper	Formulas, tables and terms still need to be checked item by item, and the results of machine translation should be confirmed manually.

# frequently asked questions (FAQ)

1. The derived Word formula is out of order. Can you use it directly?

It is not recommended to use it directly. The formula is easy to make mistakes after export, which should be revised one by one according to the original PDF. The complex formula is suggested to be re-entered and confirmed before use.

2. Should I do OCR for the scanned version of PDF first?

Need. The scanned piece has no text layer, and there is no editable text directly exported. First perform OCR recognition in the PDF editor, and then translate or export, the effect is more stable.

3. How to choose free translation and conversion tools?

When selecting, you can focus on several items: file size and page limit, whether the export result is watermarked, whether the file will be retained or used for other purposes, typesetting and formula retention. Taking a document you are familiar with as a test sample and comparing the results with the same original text is more reliable than just looking at the publicity.

4. Can the translated content be submitted or quoted directly?

You can't use it directly. Mistranslation and terminology inconsistencies may occur in machine translation. Before submitting contributions or formal citations, check paragraph by paragraph with the original text, especially conclusions, data and technical terms.

# Summary

The key to how to translate foreign documents into Word is to judge whether the original text can be selected, then choose the right way of translation output, and then check the formulas, tables and terms item by item. By operating in this order, the translation becomes a Word draft that can really be edited and referenced.

Open OmniDoc to edit and export documents online