Zotero PDF Translate

This is an add-on for Zotero's built-in PDF reader.
Translate PDFs, annotations, notes, and item titles automatically.

中文文档

Quick Start Guide

Install

From local file

Download the latest release (.xpi file) from the Latest Release Page
Note If you're using Firefox as your browser, right-click the .xpi and select "Save As.."
In Zotero click Tools in the top menu bar and then click Addons
Go to the Extensions page and then click the gear icon in the top right.
Select Install Add-on from file.
Browse to where you downloaded the .xpi file and select it.
Restart Zotero, by clicking restart now in the extensions list where the Zotero PDF Translate plugin is now listed.

From remote link

In Zotero click Tools in the top menu bar and then click Addons.
Drag Latest Release and drop it in the Zotero UI.
Click install now.
Restart Zotero, by clicking restart now in the extensions list where the Zotero PDF Translate plugin is now listed.

Usage

Once you have the plugin installed simply, open any PDF in your collections.

Select some text, the translations are shown on the popup and the right sidebar(v0.2.0); Hold Alt/Option to concat selections.
Highlight some text, the translations are added to the annotation comment(v0.3.0); Modify & retranslate the annotation text in the sidebar and click the Update Annotation to modify the annotation text and translation(v0.6.6);
Add selected text along with translation to note(v0.4.0); Only works when a note editor is active.
Translate item titles with right-click menu or shortcut Ctrl+T(v0.6.0).
Translate item abstract with right-click menu(v0.8.0). Thanks @iShareStuff
Standalone translation window available(v0.7.0). View & compare translations from multiply engines in one window!
Dictionary for single word translation(v0.7.1).
SentenceBySentence Translation(v1.1.0). After a translation, press shift+P and select Translate Sentences. Only for en2zh and en2en now. Thanks @MuiseDestiny

Q&A

Q I want to translate manually.
A Go to Edit->Preferences->PDF Translate->General, uncheck the Automatic Translation. Click the translate button on the popup or sidebar to translate.

Q I want a translate shortcut.
A Press shortcut Ctrl+T after you selected some text. If you are in the collection view, the titles' translation will show/hide.

Q I want to concat different seletions and translate them together.
A Press Alt/Option when selecting text in PDF.

Q Not the language I want.
A The default target language is the same as your Zotero language. Go to Edit->Preferences->PDF Translate->General and change the language settings.

Q Translation not correct or report an error.
A See Language Settings and #6. Make sure you use the right secret.

Q I want to change the font size.
A Go to Edit->Preferences->PDF Translate->Advanced and set the font size.

Settings

General

Enable Translation, default true
Automatic Translation, default true
Enable Dictionary: single word will be translated using dictionary-engine instead of translate engine, default true
Enable Popup: Show results in a right-click popup or only in the sidebar, default true
Automatic Annotation Translation: Save annotation's translation as comment, default true
Show 'Add to Note(With Translation)' in Popup: default true

Unvisible if no active note editor opened.
- Replace Source Text: Use translation to replace the source text when adding to note, default false

Service

The default engine is Google Translate. Currently, we support:

Translate Engine	Require Secret	Supported Languages
Google Translate	No	100+
Google Translate(API)	No	Use `translate.googleapis.com`
CNKI	No	https://dict.cnki.net
Youdao Translate	No	100+?
Youdao Zhiyun	Yes	100+
Niu Translate(Trial)	No	100+ UNSTABLE
Niu Translate	Yes	100+
Microsoft Translate	Yes(free 2M)	200+
LingoCloud(Caiyun) Translate	Yes	zh, en, ja, es, fr, ru
DeepL Translate	Yes(free 500k)	100+
Baidu Translate	Yes(free-QPS1/free-2M)	200+
Baidu Field	Yes(free-QPS1/free-2M)	en-zh
Tencent Translate	Yes(QPS5, free-5M)	15
GPT(OpenAI)	Yes(free-$18)	Based on the gpt-3.5-turbo model

If the engine you want is not yet supported, please post an issue.

Microsoft Translate
Apply here. Copy your secret and paste it into the settings.
The secret format is MY_SECRET.

See this issue for detailed steps to set up the Microsoft Translate.

DeepL Translate
Apply here.

Youdao Zhiyun Translate 有道智云
Apply here.
The secret format is MY_APPID#MY_SECRET#MY_VOCABID(optional).

About VOCABID
登录控制台，选择文本翻译服务，点击右侧的术语表，选择新建，填写表名称和语言方向，添加需要的术语表，然后获取对应词表 id 即可。

Official Document

Niu Translate
Apply here.
The secret format is MY_APIKEY#dictNo(optional)#memoryNo(optional).

Chinese Document

Baidu Translate
Apply here.
The secret format is MY_APPID#MY_KEY#ACTION(optional, see https://api.fanyi.baidu.com/doc/21, default 0)(split with '#').

Baidu Field Translate 百度垂直领域翻译
Apply here.
The secret format is MY_APPID#MY_KEY#DOMAIN_CODE(split with '#').

Domain Code	领域	语言方向
electronics	电子科技领域	中文-->英语
finance	金融财经领域	中文-->英语
finance	金融财经领域	英语-->中文
mechanics	水利机械领域	中文-->英语
medicine	生物医药领域	中文-->英语
medicine	生物医药领域	英语-->中文
novel	网络文学领域	中文-->英语

Chinese Document

Tencent Translate
Apply here.
The secret format is secretId#SecretKey#Region(optional, default ap-shanghai)#ProjectId(optional, default 0)(split with '#').

Chinese Document

OpenL Translate
Apply here.
The secret format is service1,service2,...#apikey(split with '#'; split service codes with ',').

Supported service codes are: deepl,youdao,tencent,aliyun,baidu,caiyun,wechat,sogou,azure,ibm,aws,google, See Service Code

Chinese Document

GPT
Apply here.
The secret format is sk-#SecretKey(split with '#').

Chinese Document

User Interface

Font Size: The font size of result text, default 12
Line Height: The line height of result text, default 1.5
SideBar: Show xxx: Show or hide sidebar elements, default true
SideBar: Reverse Raw/Result: Reverse the order of Raw/Result in the sidebar if true, default false
Popup: Remember Size: Remember size of popup if true, else automatically adjust the size, default false

Advanced

Disable Automatic Translation when File Language is(split with ','): If you want to disable automatic translation in zh and ja files, set zh,ja.

Development & Contributing

This addon is built based on the Zotero Plugin Template. See the setup and debug details there.

To startup, run

git clone https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-pdf-translate.git
cd zotero-pdf-translate
npm install
npm run build

The plugin is built to ./builds/*.xpi.

Contributing

Add new translate service

Add service config to src/utils/config.ts > SERVICES;
Add translation task processor under src/modules/services/${serviceId}.ts with the same format with other services. The export function set the translation result to data.result if runs successfully and throw an error if fails;
Import the task processor function in src/modules/services.ts.
Add locale string service.${serviceId} in addon/chrome/locale/${lang}/addon.properties.
Build and test.

Extra options for translate service

If the service requires extra options, the minimal implement would be putting them in the secret input in the prefs window, like the existing services does.

If there are complex options, please bind a callback in src/utils/translate.ts > secretStatusButtonData which create a highly customizable dialog window with ztoolkit.Dialog. See the example of NiuTrans login here: https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-pdf-translate/blob/main/src/utils/niuTransLogin.ts

Disclaimer

Use this code under AGPL. No warranties are provided. Keep the laws of your locality in mind!

My Other Zotero Addons

zotero-better-notes: Everything about note management. All in Zotero.
zotero-pdf-preview: PDF preview for Zotero
zotero-tag: Automatically tag items/Batch tagging

Sponsor Me

I'm windingwind, an active Zotero(https://www.zotero.org) plugin developer. Devoting to making reading papers easier.

Sponsor me to buy a cup of coffee. I spend more than 24 hours every week coding, debugging, and replying to issues in my plugin repositories. The plugins are open-source and totally free.

If you sponsor more than $10 a month, you can list your name/logo here and have priority for feature requests/bug fixes!

legend-zl/zotero-pdf-translate

Zotero PDF Translate

Quick Start Guide

Install

From local file

From remote link

Usage

Q&A

Settings

General

Service

User Interface

Advanced

Development & Contributing

Contributing

Disclaimer

My Other Zotero Addons

Sponsor Me

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