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LILT supports the direct upload, translation, and export of PDF documents - including text-based PDFs, scanned (image-based) PDFs, and PDFs that contain a mix of both. Translated PDFs preserve the original layout as closely as possible, including columns, tables, and image placement. This functionality is available for both Instant and Verified Translation jobs. You can upload one or more PDFs in a single job, and the system will automatically handle the OCR text extraction, translation, and reconstruction of the final document. The translated output can be downloaded as a PDF, individually or in a batch. While we aim to perfectly replicate the original layout, formatting differences may occur depending on the complexity of the source document. If you need formatting explicitly preserved, consider a human verification workflow with add-on post-processing (Desktop Publishing) support through our Secure File Delivery feature.

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How It Works

  1. Upload your PDFs:
    • Upload one or more PDFs using unified job submission. You do not need to specify whether a PDF is text-based or scanned — LILT processes all PDFs through a single pipeline that automatically handles both OCR text extraction.
  2. Optional — Review extracted text:
    • Under Additional options, you can enable Review extracted text before translation. When enabled, the job pauses after processing so you can review (and edit, if needed) the text LILT has extracted from your PDF before it is sent for translation. This is especially useful for scanned PDFs, where OCR quality can vary.
    • Review extracted text before translation is typically off by default. Organization admins can change the default in the Job Form Editor but this toggle can still be switched on or off during job submission.
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  3. Translation:
    • After extraction (and optional review), the text is translated using either Instant or Verified Translation, based on your workflow selection. For Instant translation, the toggle for “Receive an expert-verified translation” should be set to off.
    • Once translation is complete, LILT uses a specialized reconstruction service to reassemble the translated text back into the original PDF layout, preserving column breaks, image placement, and table alignment.
  4. Download translated files:
    • Download your translated PDFs for your selected workflow. LILT also provides DOCX exports so if layouts break due to formatting issues, you can make any formatting changes needed before re-saving as a PDF.
      1. For Instant jobs, “Download” will download .zip folders of the PDF and DOCX translation for individual languages. “Download all” will download a .zip folder of PDF and DOCX translations for all languages in the instant job.
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      2. For Verified jobs:
        • Download your translated PDFs for your job. Click on the “Download files” button in your job delivery email, and use the dropdown to the right of the job to “Download files”. This will download a .zip folder of PDF and DOCX translations for each project within the job.
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        • Alternatively, you can download the translated PDF/DOCX files from the Project (Language) level.
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Supported Features

  • Input Formats: PDF (text-based, scanned, or a mix of both)
  • Output Formats: PDF, DOCX
  • Translation Types: Instant and Verified Translation
  • Batch Actions: Download multiple translated files at once.

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Important Notes

  • Automatic PDF export is currently only supported for same-direction languages. For example, EN <> AR is not supported as English is Left-To-Right and Arabic is Right-To-Left. We are working to support this and will share an update once available. In cases like this, the download will only be available as a TXT file.
  • While we aim to perfectly replicate the original layout, formatting differences may occur depending on the complexity of the source document. If you need formatting explicitly preserved, consider a human verification workflow with add-on post-processing (Desktop Publishing) support. We cannot automatically resize graphical elements in the PDF to account for text expansion in translation. This can only be done with a manual post-processing workflow step by a member of the LILT team.
  • To help improve quality, we recommend enabling Review extracted text before translation so you can catch and correct any OCR issues before translation begins (e.g. poor scan quality or unusual layouts).
  • We do not support scanned PDFs of handwritten text.