Translate a Word document into Spanish

What Spanish changes in a Word file

Spanish text runs noticeably longer than English, and roughly as long as French. Starting from an English .docx, the parts that cannot grow suffer first: fixed-size text boxes, table rows with a set height, narrow column headings and single-line headers. “Total amount due” becomes “Importe total adeudado”; “Next steps” becomes “Próximos pasos”.

Punctuation and typography change too:

• questions and exclamations open with ¿ and ¡, even mid-sentence: “Si no recibe el pago, ¿qué ocurre?”;
• no space before colons, semicolons, question or exclamation marks;
• the recommended quotation marks are « », with “ ” and ‘ ’ for quotes inside quotes;
• headings capitalise only the first word and proper nouns, so the English Title Case “Annual Report Summary” becomes “Resumen del informe anual”.

Fonts must also contain ñ, á, é, í, ó, ú, ü, ¿ and ¡. Mainstream fonts do; a decorative or in-house font used for headings is worth checking, as a missing character is displayed in a substitute font.

Spain or Latin America: register, numbers and dates

Spanish has more than one standard. Vocabulary differs (ordenador / computadora, móvil / celular, coche / carro), and so does the plural “you”: Spain distinguishes vosotros from ustedes, while Latin America uses ustedes throughout. For contracts, reports and formal notes, the polite usted is the safe choice; a consumer guide may use tú, provided it does so consistently.

Check these against your target country:

• Numbers: Spain uses a decimal comma (1 250,50 or 1.250,50); Mexico uses a decimal point (1,250.50). In a table of amounts, the wrong separator changes the value a reader sees.
• Dates: day, month, year, with months and weekdays in lower case: “lunes 3 de marzo de 2025”.
• Large numbers: Spanish has three plural categories (one, many, other); “many” covers large round figures, which take “de”: “2 millones de usuarios”.
• Gender: where English says “employees”, Spanish must choose “los trabajadores y las trabajadoras” or a collective noun such as “el personal”.

The free sample, one paragraph of your own file translated at the level you choose before you pay, shows the vocabulary and register you will get. If the document targets one country, have sensitive terms read by someone from there.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Manuce translates paragraphs, tables, headers and footers, and text boxes. A merged cell is translated and charged only once. The .docx is rebuilt text run by text run: fonts, sizes, colours, bold and italics, styles, numbering and table widths stay as in the original. The bold in “The deadline is 30 days” stays bold in “El plazo es de 30 días”.

An automatic check compares the layout of the translated document with the original and flags any difference. You receive:

• the file in its original format, text replaced in place, original layout included;
• a Word version;
• a PDF;
• the plain text.

What remains for you: the table of contents and cross-references are automatic fields. They keep working, but page numbers are only recalculated when you update fields in Word once the Spanish text is in place. Because widths are preserved, longer Spanish text may also shift a few page breaks.

Manuce does not produce sworn or certified translations. If an authority in Spain or Latin America requires a traducción jurada (civil records, diplomas, court rulings), you will need a sworn translator. Spanish is charged at the base rate (coefficient ×1).

Preparing the .docx and checking the result

Before uploading:

• accept or reject tracked changes and delete internal comments;
• text inside an image is not Word text: if it needs to appear in Spanish, type it into a text box;
• if the original is in English, leave room in fixed-size text boxes and fixed-height table cells;
• make sure headings use heading styles, so the table of contents can be rebuilt from the Spanish headings.

After delivery:

• select the whole document and update fields: the contents page, now headed “Índice”, picks up the correct page numbers;
• set the proofing language to the Spanish of your target country, so spell-checking and hyphenation follow Spanish rules;
• scan the footers (“Página 3 de 12”) and any figures in tables, decimal separator included;
• review acronyms and trade terms: “VAT” becomes “IVA”, “SME” becomes “pyme”, while product names should stay as they are.

In practice

1. Upload your .docx: the quote appears straight away, based on the exact word count.
2. Choose a level and read the free sample paragraph in Spanish.
3. Pay, then download the translated .docx, Word version, PDF and plain text from your account.
4. In Word, update fields and set the proofing language to Spanish.
5. Check numbers, dates and footers against your target country's conventions.