Five ways to transform document translation with DeepL Translator

“It used to take half a day to translate a document created in Japanese into English. Now that we are using DeepL, we can do this task very fast.”

That’s the experience of Shoji Otsubo, Senior Manager at the multinational technology enterprise, Panasonic Connect, and it’s typical of the transformational impact that document translation with DeepL Translator has for businesses. 

What’s true for Panasonic Connect’s detailed, technical research reports is equally true for other companies’ complex legal contracts, crucial employee safety manuals, guides for software developers or marketing collateral across all the languages on DeepL Translator. Document translation delivers some of the greatest productivity gains and time-savings that businesses can get from DeepL.

The value of high-quality, automatic document translation

Accurate, automatic document translation is so valuable, because the task of translating documents is so complicated. Translating text is just one part of the process. It’s equally important to preserve the way those words are set out in document designs. The paragraph ordering and numbering in a contract, the annotations on a diagram, the way that words and images work together in a brochure or a PowerPoint slide, the timings of video subtitles: all are crucial to the end-result.

Translating documents by copying and pasting the words, and then flowing them back into designs, is hugely time-consuming and comes with increased risks. Pasting legal copy into the wrong paragraph can result in serious legal consequences. Websites break when the format of HTML documents goes awry. When dealing with multiple languages manually, the risk of these mistakes grows.

The ability to translate documents accurately and efficiently, while avoiding these issues, is crucial for international businesses. That’s why DeepL is committed to innovating and enhancing the experience of translating documents, as well as the accuracy of our language models themselves.

Designing a superior document translation experience

We’ve developed techniques and processes that adapt designs to work with translated copy and carefully preserve original document formatting. They give our users greater control over the translated document, cut out the need for extensive corrections, and avoid having to spend hours fixing layouts. It works for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, HTML code and SRT subtitle files, XLIFF data files and crucially, PDF documents with complex images and designs. 

For the pioneering aviation electronics firm, JAE, this type of trustworthy document translation has proven a game-changer for internal communication. “We can now send the documents immediately without waiting for the translation,” explains Takashi Ito, General Manager of JAE’s Information Security Management Office. “In the past, this used to take a week to be done manually. DeepL has reduced the number of occurrences where we had to send materials but were too busy to do so.”

The value of DeepL Translator’s document translation comes from the quality of the translations themselves, the accurate capture of formatting and design, and the features that enable businesses to leverage document translation in the way that works best for them. 

Here are 5 ways that you can use DeepL Translator to transform document translation:

1. Drop PDF files directly into the document translation window, without copying, pasting or using OCR tools

The majority of documents translated with DeepL are PDFs. Our document translation solution extracts text from these documents automatically, so that you don’t need to worry about copying and pasting, or using separate Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tools to grab the copy you need. You can simply drag your PDF file into the document translation window to get started.

2. Generate translated documents in their original formatting

DeepL Translator’s document translation supports all of the most important business formats, including DOCX, PPTX and XLSX from Microsoft, HTML code, XLIFF data files, simple TXT and SRT subtitles. In all of these formats, you generate a translated document in its original formatting with important elements like layouts, paragraph numbering, footnotes and timecodes preserved.

Crucially, it does the same for the visual layouts of PDF documents, retaining the original design, and formatting copy to work with it, even when the length of translated text changes. This means that even external marketing collateral can be rapidly localized.

3. Save time by translating multiple documents at once

If you have a set of documents to translate, you can save time by uploading them as one batch. You can do this even if the documents are in different formats, and even if they need to be translated into different languages. When you upload your batch of documents, you’ll be able to specify the language that you want to translate each of them from and to, or you can let Translator detect the languages for you.

4. Apply glossaries for consistent translations

Once you’ve uploaded a document or set of documents, you can also apply  a glossary to your translations. This enables you to translate your brand vocabulary and specialist technical terms consistently across all of the documents you’re translating. DeepL will automatically reflect the tone of your original documents, but you can also choose to specify a formal or informal tone for your translations if you prefer.

5. Edit your translated documents so that you stay in control

When translating individual documents, you can use Edit mode  to generate a preview of your translated copy alongside the original, which you can then refine using the  dictionary or alternative features. Once you’ve finished editing, you can choose to download the formatted document with your changes, or discard them and revert to the original translation.

If you’re translating a PDF, the Translator will also give you the option of downloading your translation as either a Word document or as a fully designed PDF. Because of the accurate way that Translator preserves designs, the PDF option is usually the most efficient. When you choose this option, it’s easy to make minor adjustments to fonts and text box positions using Adobe Acrobat editing tools. If you are dealing with complex layouts and want more design control, you can download the Word document for designers to reflow into the layout.

Combining accuracy and control

In all of these areas DeepL document translation works by delivering accurate, nuanced translations of copy alongside accurate reproductions of layouts and formatting. It also gives you the control you need to ensure that the final result delivers what you need. That’s the key to transforming document translation, saving time, enabling better communication and accelerating productivity for localization teams. It’s about having the confidence that a document reads the right way, in every language you need.

Contact us today to learn more about DeepL's superior document translation capabilities!