Translate a PDF into Italian and keep its layout

What changes when a PDF goes into Italian

Italian usually takes noticeably more room than English: “Download the report” becomes “Scarica il rapporto”, “Terms and conditions” becomes “Termini e condizioni”. In a PDF every text block sits in a fixed box. Manuce places the translation in that box and, if it overflows, reduces the text size until it fits. In running text the difference is barely visible; on a button, a column header or a narrow caption, the smaller type can show.

Two Italian typographic habits to be aware of:

• Headings use sentence case: only the first word and proper nouns are capitalised. “Annual Sustainability Report” becomes “Relazione annuale sulla sostenibilità”, not “Relazione Annuale sulla Sostenibilità”.
• Months and weekdays are lower case: “lunedì 3 marzo”.

Coming from English, expect fuller lines; coming from French or Spanish, the layout moves less.

Accents, apostrophes and embedded PDF fonts

Accented vowels are everywhere in Italian: è (is), perché, città, più, può. Two traps specific to PDFs:

• Subset fonts. A PDF often embeds only the characters actually used in the document. An English PDF may therefore carry a font with no à, è, ì, ò, ù. Manuce uses the original font or an equivalent; check on the free sample that accented letters appear in the same typeface as the surrounding text.
• Capital È. A sentence starts “È possibile”, not “E' possibile”: a common error when the font or keyboard lacks the character.

Italian elides constantly: l'azienda, dell'offerta, un'ottima scelta. The apostrophe belongs to the word, with no space after it. For quotations Italian accepts either « caporali » or double quotation marks; pick one and keep to it throughout.

Numbers, dates and register: Italian conventions

PDFs often carry tables, dates and formal wording that must follow Italian usage:

• Numbers: full stop for thousands, comma for decimals: 1.250,75 €. An English figure written “1,250.75” must be converted, or an Italian reader will read a different value.
• Dates: day, month, year: 05/04/2025 or “5 aprile 2025”. A US-style 04/05 needs resolving before it reaches an Italian reader.
• Register: letters, terms and conditions and instructions address the reader with Lei: “La preghiamo di firmare”, “Può contattarci”. Informal tu is for consumer material that deliberately uses it.
• Plurals and agreement: Italian has the plural categories one, many and other. In practice, “1 pagina” but “2 pagine”, and after milione or miliardo you add di: “3 milioni di utenti”. Adjectives agree in gender: nuovo modulo, nuova versione.

Official identifiers stay as they are: a UK VAT number does not turn into a “Partita IVA”. Proofread these items.

What Manuce delivers, and what it does not do

Manuce reads the PDF text block by block, with its position, font, size and colour. You receive:

• the Italian PDF, with the original text removed and the translation placed in the same box, in the original font or an equivalent; images and background stay where they were;
• a Word version with editable text, handy for rewording a phrase or shortening a heading;
• a formatted PDF and plain text.

Italian uses the Latin alphabet, left to right, so the fully rebuilt PDF is produced, and keeping the original layout is included in the price. For an ordinary document the translation arrives within minutes and stays available in your client area.

What Manuce does not do: it cannot read a scanned PDF (an image of a page with no selectable text). Nor does it produce sworn or certified translations. For a certificate, diploma or court decision going to an Italian authority, a traduzione giurata (or asseverata) by a sworn translator is generally required: Manuce can help you understand the document, not replace that formality.

Preparing the PDF and checking the Italian version

Before uploading:

• Try selecting a sentence in the PDF. If nothing highlights, it is a scan: go back to the source file and export a text-based PDF.
• Use a PDF exported directly from the original application rather than one that has been “printed to PDF” several times, where words are sometimes split into separate letters.
• Note what must not be translated: brand names, product codes such as REF-IT-204, addresses.
• Request the free sample on an accent-heavy paragraph to check the font.

On delivery, check:

• narrow blocks (buttons, captions, column headers) where the text may have been reduced;
• accented capitals in headings: CITTÀ, PERCHÉ;
• amounts and dates in Italian format;
• consistent use of Lei from page to page.

If a heading is still cramped, shorten it in the Word version rather than accept very small type.

In practice

1. Check that the text in your PDF can be selected.
2. Upload the file and choose Italian: the quote appears, based on the exact word count.
3. Request the free sample and check accents and register.
4. Pay, then download the Italian PDF, the Word version and plain text.
5. Review narrow blocks, figures and dates before sharing.