Translate for Zotero is a Zotero plugin that translates PDF, EPub, webpage, metadata, annotations, and notes to a target language using over twenty translation services.
The plugin solves the problem of reading and annotating research materials in foreign languages by embedding translation directly into Zotero's document reader. When a user selects text in a PDF, EPub, or webpage opened in Zotero, translations appear in a popup and the item pane. The tool supports multiple workflows: highlighting text adds translations to annotation comments, selected text can be added to notes alongside translations, item titles and abstracts can be translated via right-click menu or keyboard shortcut, and a standalone translation window allows comparison of results from multiple services simultaneously. The plugin also includes a dictionary for single-word translation and sentence-by-sentence translation for specific language pairs.
Researchers working with multilingual document collections should consider this plugin if they need to translate content without leaving Zotero's interface. It suits projects where reading comprehension and annotation in a non-native language are bottlenecks. The tool is particularly valuable for those who want to preserve translations alongside their annotations and notes within their existing Zotero workflow. Users can configure automatic or manual translation, adjust target language settings, customize font sizes, and resize text areas in the translation panel to match their preferences.
The project shows active maintenance with incremental feature additions across multiple releases. Development has introduced capabilities progressively, including annotation comment translation, standalone comparison windows, dictionary lookup, and sentence-level translation modes. The codebase is written in TypeScript and distributed as a Zotero extension file, with installation handled through Zotero's plugin manager.
