Translate scientific PDFs while preserving layout

PDFMathTranslate is an application designed to translate scientific PDF documents while retaining the original layout and mathematical formulas.

This tutorial provides instructions on how to install and use PDFMathTranslate on Olares, using the local AI model Ollama for translation.

Learning objectives

By the end of this tutorial, you are able to:

• Configure the local AI model for PDF translation.
• Translate a scientific PDF and manage the output files.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure:

• Ollama is installed and running in your Olares environment.
• At least one model is installed using Ollama. For more information, see Ollama.

Install PDFMathTranslate

1. Open the Olares Market and search for "PDFMathTranslate".

2. Click Get, and then click Install.

   

3. When the installation finishes, click Open. The PDFMathTranslate workspace is displayed.

   

Translate

Upload your PDF document

PDF format requirements

Ensure that the PDF file is a standard PDF document that is not password-protected or corrupted. The application cannot process invalid PDF files.

In the File area, select your input Type:

• If you select File, drag and drop your PDF document into the upload area, or click the area to browse your local storage.

  When the document is uploaded, a preview of it appears in the Preview pane on the right.

• If you select Link, enter the link address of the PDF document.

  The Preview pane remains blank during this step. The document content only appears in this area after the translation is completed.

Configure the translation service

To use the local AI service Ollama for translation, configure the following settings:

1. From the Service list, select Ollama.

2. (Optional) To obtain the Ollama host address:

   a. Go to Olares Settings > Application > Ollama.

   b. In the Entrances section, click Ollama API.

   c. Click Set up endpoint, and then click content_copy to copy the endpoint address.

   

3. In the OLLAMA_HOST field, enter the Ollama host address.

4. In the OLLAMA_MODEL field, enter the exact identifier of the Ollama model you have downloaded. For example, gemma3:4b.

   

Select languages and scope

1. Select the source and target languages:

   a. Translate from indicates the original document's language.

   b. Translate to indicates the language you want to read.

   INFO

   PDFMathTranslate does not auto-detect the languages. You must select them manually. Supported languages include English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Italian.

2. Specify which pages to translate:

   • All: Translates the entire document.
   • First: Translates only the first page.
   • First 5 pages: Translates the first five pages.
   • Others: Translates a custom range of pages.

   

3. Click Translate. The translation starts immediately.

   WARNING

   Do not click the Cancel button during translation. This might cause the process to report an error.

Download your files

When the translation is completed, the translated file is displayed in the Preview pane, and the application generates three files:

• Original source file
• Translated file
• Bilingual version

You can find these files in the Files app. To download them to your local computer, download them directly from the PDFMathTranslate workspace, or use the Files app.

In PDFMathTranslate workspace

On the left side of the pdfmathtranslate workspace, in the Translated section, click the download button next to the file.

From Olares Files app

1. Open the Files app, and then go to Data > pdfmathtranslate > pdfmathtranslate.

   

2. Double-click a file, and then click the download icon in the upper-right corner.

   

FAQ

Why did the translation progress bar disappear?

If you refresh the page while a translation is running, the progress bar might disappear from the screen. This is a display issue only, and the translation is still processing in the background.

Wait for it to finish or check the output folder.

Will the app keep multiple versions of the same file?

If you translate the same file name multiple times, the system replaces the previous version with the new one. It does not create numbered copies such as file_1.pdf. To keep multiple versions, rename your source file before translating it again.

What should I do if the app becomes unresponsive or takes unusually long?

If the translation takes significantly longer than usual or the application stops responding, the background process might have stalled. To resolve this issue, uninstall and then re-install pdfmathtranslate.

How do I perform a clean uninstallation of PDFMathTranslate?

To completely remove the application and its data:

1. Uninstall the app from Market or Desktop. For more information, see Uninstall applications.
2. Open the Files app, go to Application > Data, and then delete the pdfmathtranslate folder.