Document translation
Translate legal, financial, and HR documents at scale, with speed, security, and accuracy. Phrase offers automated workflows, instant quotes, and support for every file format.
Document translation demands more than just speed
Providing the right solution for high-quality, secure document translation to every team isn’t easy. Style and terminology must fit each use case, and translations need to be delivered fast enough to meet team demands without disrupting their workflow.
Without a reliable in-house process, teams may turn to free online tools, risking low-quality results and potential data breaches.
Empower your teams with document translation software through Phrase
Automated workflows
Use Phrase’s out-of-the-box integrations to automate your workflows. Monitor folders in tools like Google Drive and trigger translations as soon as new files appear. Translation will happen according to your predefined settings and workflow steps. The finished translation is then stored back in Google Drive.
Self-service MT
Need a quick read of a foreign-language document? Phrase Portal gives teams instant, secure machine translation, ensuring high translation quality and preventing teams from using free online tools with a risk of data breaches.
Instant quotes
Teams can upload a document, receive a quote, and get notified when it’s done. Phrase automatically assigns jobs to your preferred vendors and routes them through your workflows, with no project manager required.
AI-optimized translations
Phrase automatically detects non-translatable content such as brand names, applies translation memory matches, and selects the most suitable machine translation (MT) engine for every document. Our AI solutions can further improve translation quality after MT, meaning that in many cases no human post-editing is needed. If you have your own AI translation engine, you can integrate it into Phrase workflows.
Accuracy for regulated content
Documents like legal and financial files rely on precise language and industry-specific terms. Phrase TMS automatically leverages approved translations and terminology defined in your term bases, and performs quality checks.
50+ file types
Translate Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, InDesign, and more without manual conversion. Built-in parsers ensure only translatable content is extracted, preserving formatting and layout throughout the process.
Document translation that delivers measurable impact
90%
reduction in terminology inconsistencies
By enforcing approved terms with centralized term bases
30%
faster delivery
Through reduced duplication thanks to shared translation data across teams and projects
65%
lower translation costs
by reusing existing content through translation memory
Automated document translation, from the tools you already use
Connect Phrase to platforms like Google Drive, SharePoint, or Dropbox. Translations are triggered the moment a file is added—no manual steps required—and the translated version is delivered back to your storage system, ready to use.
Google Drive
Make your content go further by sending documents, spreadsheets, and presentations out for translation to collaborate with a wider audience.
Microsoft OneDrive
Share and collaborate with your users by sending your content to Phrase for easy and convenient translation.
Microsoft Sharepoint
Achieve seamless collaboration and easy-to-manage knowledge sharing in any language.
Box
Work faster without sacrificing quality by sending text documents, presentations, and images for translation to reach a wider audience.
Reliable and secure
The Phrase Localization Platform follows best practices in security, stability and performance. This means we comply with the Principles and Security Statements of ISO 27001, PCI DSS, AWS, CCPA and GDPR. Our infrastructure is one of the most resilient and robust available (zero downtime deployments and a 99.9% uptime), and we work hard to ensure it stays that way.
Phrase has transformed Mercari’s localization process and we started to see positive results from day one. We are able to measure and analyze the scope of each translation project enabling accurate and instant insight for all stakeholders.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Here to field your questions on document translation
Are repetitions in one document populated immediately?
Yes, the translation memory in Phrase TMS works in real-time. This means that repetitions will be populated automatically as soon a segment is set to completed.
Is there an in-context preview for document translation?
Phrase TMS provides an in-context preview for most document file formats, making it easy for translators to translate accurately. Seeing a preview of the entire document also enables linguists to do transcreation instead of translation.
How can I handle specialized translation for certain domains?
In Phrase TMS, it’s easy to set up automated workflows for specialized translation. You can create project templates with customized workflow steps and assigned translation providers. That way, you can ensure that legal translations, for example, are always translated by a preselected, certified provider and undergo additional review.
What is document translation and when is it needed?
Document translation is the process of converting written content from one language to another while preserving its meaning and intent. It is needed for legal contracts, business communications, academic records, medical forms, and other official or commercial documents that must be understood by speakers of different languages.
What file formats does Phrase support for document translation?
Phrase supports over 50 file types, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, HTML, XML, and more. Our built-in file parsers extract only translatable content, preserving structure and formatting throughout the process.
Can I use Phrase to translate marketing brochures and technical manuals?
Yes. Phrase is ideal for a wide range of document types. From marketing assets like brochures and presentations to technical manuals and compliance documents. You can tailor workflows and review processes to fit each content type.
Does Phrase support multilingual document review workflows?
Absolutely. Phrase TMS supports custom review steps, reviewer assignments, and automated QA. You can route documents through internal or external reviewers for linguistic validation, terminology checks, and regulatory approval.
How do I translate a PDF document in Phrase?
You can upload your PDF directly into Phrase Portal or Phrase TMS. The file is parsed automatically and prepared for translation based on your settings.
Can I translate scanned PDFs?
Scanned PDFs (image-based) require OCR (optical character recognition) before translation. Phrase Portal has an inbuilt OCR tool and pre-processes the pdf to make it ready for translation.
Can I translate PDFs without losing formatting?
Phrase Portal delivers translated PDFs in an editable .docx format that closely matches the original layout. While formatting can’t always be preserved 100%, manual adjustments can be made before saving the file back as a PDF.
You can choose between two layout options:
- Adjust layout (default): Best for text-heavy PDFs; layout adapts to the translated text.
- Preserve layout: Best for complex or media-heavy PDFs; original formatting is kept, with scrollbars added if needed.
Ready to get started?
Reach a wider audience and build deeper connections today.