PlugWiki

Translate documents with Claude or ChatGPT

Upload a document to Claude, name the language you want and get a translated file back. For anything official, have a human check it.

Picks
2
ranked

Yes, Claude can translate a document you upload and give you a Word or PDF file back. You can upload PDF, DOCX, TXT, HTML, RTF, EPUB and more, and Anthropic says to name the target language rather than let Claude guess it. For long articles, the baoyu-translate skill adds a glossary, three quality modes and chunking. One thing to know: check the result, since quality varies by language.

Good for

  • Professionals who read contracts, reports or emails in another language
  • Writers and editors translating articles
  • Students working from sources in another language
  • Teams that need one glossary across a long document

The short answer

Our advice: use Claude directly for everyday documents and add the baoyu-translate skill for long articles that need one glossary. For legal, medical or immigration papers, use a certified human translator.

Our pick: Claude

Our advice: Claude for everyday translations, a human for anything official.

Best for

  • Claude for a quick translation of a file you upload
  • baoyu-translate for long articles with a glossary and a reviewed version
  • Reading a foreign-language document for the gist

Skip it if

  • The document is legal, medical or official and needs a certified translation
  • The language has few online resources and you cannot check the result
  • You cannot share the document with an AI provider

Translate a document with Claude

  1. 1

    Upload the file

    Click the plus button in Claude and add your file. Claude supports PDF, DOCX, CSV, TXT, HTML, ODT, RTF, EPUB and JSON. A chat accepts files up to 500MB each and 20 files, and PDFs up to 1,000 pages.

  2. 2

    Name the language and the audience

    Anthropic says Claude infers the response language from the conversation, so state the target language explicitly. Our advice: ask it to flag unclear passages.

    Prompt
    Translate this document from German into English. Keep headings, numbers and names exactly as they are. Use a formal tone for a business reader. Mark anything you are unsure about with [?].
  3. 3

    Get a Word or PDF back

    Turn on file creation under Settings > Capabilities. Claude can create .docx and PDF files, up to 30MB each. Our advice: check tables and formatting in the new file.

    Prompt
    Create the translation as a Word document (.docx), keeping the same headings.
  4. 4

    For long articles, use baoyu-translate

    Quick mode translates straight away. Normal mode analyzes first. Refined mode adds a review, a revision and a polish. At 4,000 words or more it splits the text into chunks and builds a term list. It runs a bundled script through bun or npx, so use Claude Code or another client that can run it. Its default target language is Chinese (zh-CN) and its trigger words are partly Chinese, so name your target language in the prompt.

    Prompt
    Use baoyu-translate in refined mode to translate this article into English with this glossary.

    Uses baoyu-translate

  5. 5

    Check the result

    Ask Claude to back-translate three tricky sentences into the original language, then compare them with the source.

    Tip: Our advice: for important documents, have a fluent reader check names, numbers, dates and legal terms.

Best plugs for this

Claude does the translating. The skill adds structure for long, polished work.

  1. 1Claude logo
    ClaudeBuilt inAssistant

    Takes uploaded PDF, DOCX and other files and can return .docx or PDF. File creation is on every plan.

    Free and upPlan
  2. 2
    baoyu-translateSkill

    Skill for translating files, URLs or pasted text in quick, normal or refined mode, with glossary, style and audience.

    25,793 installs

ChatGPT

Our advice: in ChatGPT, use the prompts above and check the result against the source.

Plan: Document uploads are on Free and paid plans, subject to plan limits (OpenAI).

What it can do

  • Translate text you paste, or a DOCX, PDF or TXT file you upload (OpenAI lists translating between languages among ChatGPT's tasks)
  • Ask for a rewrite in a different tone or style, the same way as in the workflow above

Limits

  • Documents and presentations: 512 MB per file; text and document files: 2 million tokens per file (as of November 2026)
  • Free users are limited to 3 file uploads per day; all plans: 80 files every 3 hours
  • OpenAI publishes no translation language list or document-translation accuracy figures that we found, so check names, numbers and dates against the source

Claude

Claude handles the upload, the translation and the file. Name the target language.

Plan: Any plan. Turn on file creation under Settings > Capabilities for Word and PDF output.

What it can do

  • Translate uploaded PDF, DOCX, TXT, HTML, RTF and EPUB files
  • Return the result as a .docx or PDF
  • Follow a tone, audience and glossary you give it
  • Translate long articles in modes with the baoyu-translate skill

Limits

  • Uploads: 500MB and 20 files per chat, PDFs up to 1,000 pages
  • Created files are capped at 30MB each
  • Quality varies by language, and a human should check important documents

Plugs to turn on

Questions

What is the best AI for translating documents?

For files, Claude takes uploads and returns Word or PDF files. For long articles with a glossary, add the baoyu-translate skill. Our advice: have a human check anything important.

Can Claude translate a PDF?

Yes. Upload it, name the target language and ask for a .docx or PDF. Chat uploads allow PDFs of up to 1,000 pages, and Claude reads text and images in PDFs of 100 pages or fewer.

Can ChatGPT translate documents?

Yes. OpenAI lists translating between languages among ChatGPT's tasks, and you can upload DOCX, PDF and TXT files of up to 512 MB. Free accounts get 3 file uploads per day. Our advice: have a human check anything important.

Which languages does Claude support?

Many. Anthropic says Claude performs strongly across languages and publishes per-language scores. Scores are lower for languages with fewer online resources, such as Yoruba and Swahili.

Should I name the target language?

Yes. Anthropic says Claude infers the response language from the conversation, but you should state the target language explicitly.

Can Claude keep my document's formatting?

It can create a Word or PDF file. Our advice: ask it to keep headings and check tables and layout in the result, since complex layouts may change.

Is the baoyu-translate skill free?

The skill itself needs no key. It needs bun or npx so it can run its chunking script. Its default target is Chinese (zh-CN), and setup also lists zh-TW, English and Japanese, and other language codes can be typed in.

Can I get a certified translation from AI?

No. Our advice: use a certified human translator for legal, medical or immigration documents, and use AI for drafts and understanding.

Is it safe to upload confidential documents?

Your document goes to the provider behind your assistant. Do not upload files your company bars from AI tools, and remove personal details you do not need to translate.

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 8
  1. Upload files to Claude · support.claude.com
  2. Create and edit files with Claude · support.claude.com
  3. Multilingual support · docs.claude.com
  4. baoyu-translate SKILL.md · github.com
  5. baoyu-translate workflow mechanics · github.com
  6. baoyu-translate first-time setup · github.com
  7. Uploading files and audio to ChatGPT · help.openai.com
  8. ChatGPT capabilities overview · help.openai.com

Updated Nov 3, 2026.