A Grad Student Reading 80+ Papers a Year
My second year: 80+ foreign-language papers for the literature review. More than half were PDFs. Google Translate copy-paste nearly ruined my eyes. Then DeepL, better but no layout. Then PDFTranslate Free tier.
Three Document Types and How I Handle Them
PPT-exported PDFs: Bilingual output works best — original left, translation right. 20-50 pages each, 200-page free tier covers this.
Scanned textbooks: Check DPI first. Below 150 DPI, rescan with your phone camera before uploading.
Research papers (most important): Only translate abstract, introduction, conclusion. Highlight key pages first, then translate only those. Reduces actual pages translated by 60%.
The Math: Is Free Tier Enough?
Typical usage: 3-4 papers/month (120-150 pages) + slides (60 pages) = 180-210 pages. Free tier: 200 pages. Tight but usually fine. Pro ($9.99/month, unlimited) becomes worth it during thesis crunch time.
What Can Go Wrong
Free quota runs out unnoticed: overages auto-switch to paid mode. Set usage alerts in settings. Citation page numbers change: keep an original PDF alongside the translation if your advisor requires original page references.