FAQ: ImTranslator for Chrome

On the Chrome Web Store page, search for ImTranslator. Click "Add to Chrome" button to install the extension, then confirm the extension.

After the installation, ImTranslator button  appears on the Chrome’s toolbar and in the context menu.
Refer to ImTranslator for Chrome Tutorial

List of default shortcuts for ImTranslator for Chrome

To translate a selected text:

• hold shortcuts BEFORE or AFTER selecting a text with the mouse

The translation will appear instantly, either in ImTranslator window, Pop-up bubble or inline (depending on the shortcust you will use).

Hotkeys customization

ImTranslator shortcuts are fully customizable, and can be defined for each translation application using Options.
To set preferred shortcuts, go to Options and choose the application tab to make desired changes.
The fastest way to access Options is to right-click ImTranslator button on the toolbar.

To change the hotkeys:

• click inside the Hotkeys field you want to make changes
• enter new hotkeys
• after a short delay the new hotkeys appear
• click Save options to keep your changes

You can use the following keys: Ctrl, Alt, Shift, A-Z, 0-9 in any combination, but no more than three keys.

Please keep in mind that some key combinations cannot be assigned, as they are used by the Chrome browser.

Choosing identical hotkeys for different tasks is not allowed, as it will result in hotkeys conflict.
If the new key combination has been already reserved, the alert message will appear; the previous hotkeys will be restored.
In this case you need to choose other key combinations.

The hotkey engine will detect the conflicting keys and display the alert window.

Here you can assign unique hotkeys for each task.
You can also temporarily deactivate hotkeys if desired by clearing the checkbox next to the hotkey title.
After Saving hotkeys, you will be redirected back to the application tab.

Some hotkeys fields include the clear button. Clicking on this button removes the hotkeys and replaced by None.  This mode allows you to activate translations on mouse selection.

Note: this translation mode is not recommended. It may interfere with other tasks where making text selection with the mouse is implemented. 

But if you work with the Dictionary or with a pair of languages with the English language, the "automatic language detection" does a more advanced job.

a) Let's say you translate from French to English.  But your translation direction is set to English - French. The automatic language detector identifies that the target language of the translation direction is identical to the language of the original text, and instantly perfomrs the language switch to French - English, when you press the Translate button.

b) Here is another case. You translate from French the word "succession".  But the automatic language detection insists that this word is English.
You definitely know that this is the French word, and you disable the automatic language detection on the fly by choosing the French language from the source list and locking the language (marking the lock-in checkbox).
You do it on the fly, without accessing Options. This also save you time and clicks and make your translation work very user-friendly.

We have developed free  ImTranslator Compare Translations  service where you can translate using various translation providers side-by-side, compare translations and choose the best translation.

ImTranslator application

Pop-up Bubble Translator

If the source language is set to "Detect language", the switch language button doesn't function.

Refer to the  Switch Languages tutorial.

To translate such a document, you have to convert it first into an editable (text) format, then copy-paste the text into the translation window.

If your .PDF file is editable (you can highlight and copy the text), then you can translate such a file using the copy-paste technique.

You  can change the target language and keep the automatic language detection option for the Source language set to "Detect language". With this settings, the language of the original text will be detected automatically, and the language for translation will be the one chosen by you.

If you prefer not to use the language detection option, you can disable the language detection by clearing the "Detect source language automatically" checkbox and setting the source language manually.

You can customize the language settings for ImTranslator,  Bubble Translator and for Webpage Translation.

Consult the Text-to-Speech  tutorial.

Comparison of the back translation to the original text is sometimes used as a quality check on the original translation.
Although the back translation does not always provide the same translation result due to the asymmetric sentence structure in different languages, this feature may give you additional benefit to make sure your text is understandable.
If you want to use the back translation feature, check the Back Translation checkbox.

Refer to the Back Translation tutorial.

First, enable Translation History in ImTranslator Options:  either in the Translation History tab or in each translation tool.

After you enabled the Translation History, all translations will be recorded and stored along with the source text or links to the translated webpages.

To access Translation History, click the History link on each translation tool, or go to ImTranslator Options, then Translation History tab.

Refer to the Translation History tutorial.

You can check translations done by other providers by clicking on the corresponding provider's tab.

If you want to compare translations side-by-side we have developed the Compare Translators service.

The Compare Translators tool translates and compares translations between various online translation providers: Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, and other.

Consult Compare Translation tutorial