Translate an email message
In Outlook, you can translate words, phrases, and full messages when you need them. You can also set Outlook to automatically translate messages you receive in other languages.
When you receive an email message in another language, you'll see a prompt at the top of the message asking if you'd like Outlook to translate it into your preferred language.
When you receive an email in another language, you can respond in two different ways:
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In the message, select Translate message. Outlook replaces the message text with translated text, and this translation is cached for 15 days—which means you don't need to translate the same message twice.
After you've translated the message, you can select Show original to see the message in the original language or Turn on automatic translation to always translate messages to your preferred language.
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In the message, select Never translate. Outlook won't ask you if you'd like to translate messages in that language in the future.
If, for some reason, Outlook doesn't offer these options, select the Translate button from the ribbon, or right-click on the message and select Translate, then Translate Message.
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On the Home tab, select Translate > Translate Message.
To change your translation preferences, go to Home > Translate > Translation Preferences.
Here you can set your preferred language.
Translate part of an email message
To translate just a bit of text from a message, select that text and right-click. Outlook will show you the translation right there in the context menu that appears.
You can also select text and right-click to translate to your preferred language when you're composing an email. When you click the translated text, you can insert it into the message you're writing.
To learn more, see Announcing new translation features in Outlook.
Note: Automatic translation and intelligent translation suggestions are only available for Exchange Online mailboxes.
Data use & privacy
Email translations provided by Translator for Outlook are powered by the online Microsoft Translator service. All data transmissions are secured via SSL, and are never stored, sampled, or shared with any first- or third-party entity. This means that all translation and processing happens on servers in-memory only. (This is also known as the "no-trace" option from Microsoft Translator.)
Three translation options are available:
Translate an entire email message
You can have an entire Outlook message translated by a computer ("machine translation") and displayed in a web browser. When you choose this kind of translation, the content in the message is sent over the Internet to a service provider.
Note: Machine translation is helpful for conveying the basic subject matter of the content and for confirming whether the content is relevant to you. For high accuracy or sensitive files, human translation is recommended, because machine translation might not preserve the full meaning and tone of the text.
Choose your translation language
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On the Review tab, in the Language group, click Translate > Choose Translation Language.
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Under Choose document translation languages click the Translate from and Translate to languages that you want, and then click OK.
Translate the document or message
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On the Review tab, in the Language group, click Translate.
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Click Translate Item. The From and To languages that you selected are listed.
A browser tab opens with your message shown in both the original language and the language that you selected for translation.
Note: If this is the first time you have used translation services, you may need to click OK to install the bilingual dictionaries and enable the translation service through the Research pane. You can also see which bilingual dictionaries and machine translation services you have enabled by clicking the Translation options link in the Research pane. See the next section ("Translate selected text") to learn how to access the Research pane.
Translate selected text
You can select text in an email message, then ask for it to be translated.
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In the email message, select the text.
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On the Message tab, select Translate > Translate Selected Text.
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In the Research pane, under Translation, select the origin language (From) and the target language (To).
Under Microsoft Translator, the translated words will quickly appear.
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To copy the translated text to the clipboard, select Insert > Copy.
Notes:
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If this is the first time you have used translation services, click OK to install the bilingual dictionaries and enable the translation service through the Research pane.
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You can also see which bilingual dictionaries and machine translation services you have enabled by clicking the Translation options link in the Research pane.
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To change the languages that are used for translation, in the Research pane, under Translation, select the languages that you want to translate from and to. For example, to translate English to French, click English in the From list and French in the To list.
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To customize which resources are used for translation, click Translation options, and then select the options that you want.
Translate words with the Mini Translator
The Mini Translator displays the translation of one word as you point at it with your cursor. You can also copy the translated text to the Clipboard, paste it somewhere else, or play a pronunciation of the translated word.
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In the email message, select the text.
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On the Message tab, select Translate > Mini Translator.
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Point to a word or phrase that you want translated with your mouse. When a faint dialog box appears overlayed in your document, move your mouse over it to see any translations available.
Note: The Mini Translator will continue to appear whenever you move over words. To turn it off, repeat step 1 above.
For more information, see See translations with the Mini Translator.
Data use & privacy
Email translations provided by Translator for Outlook are powered by the online Microsoft Translator service. All data transmissions are secured via SSL, and are never stored, sampled, or shared with any first- or third-party entity. This means that all translation and processing happens on servers in-memory only. (This is also known as the "no-trace" option from Microsoft Translator.)
In order to translate email messages, you must install a Microsoft add-in named Translator for Outlook.
Get the Translator add-in
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On the Tools menu, select Get Add-ins.
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In the search box, enter Translator.
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From the drop-down list of results, select Translator for Outlook.
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Select Add to install the add-in.
Translate an email message
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Select the message you want to translate.
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From the Home tab, select Translate Message.
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In the Translator window, select the language to which you'll translate your message.
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The translated message is displayed. At the top of the Translator window, you can select × to close it.
Troubleshooting
If you're unable to install Translator, your mailbox might be hosted on an unsupported version of Microsoft Exchange. If you're using Translator with an Microsoft 365 account, you'll need a mailbox that's hosted on Exchange 2013 or later. Check with your IT department (commercial users) or Internet Service Provider (consumer users).
Your Exchange admin must allow add-ins to be activated before you can install Translator. Add-in activation is explained in Manage user access to add-ins for Outlook.
Data use & privacy
Email translations provided by Translator for Outlook are powered by the online Microsoft Translator service. All data transmissions are secured via SSL, and are never stored, sampled, or shared with any first- or third-party entity. This means that all translation and processing happens on servers in-memory only. (This is also known as the "no-trace" option from Microsoft Translator.)
Translate an email message
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When you receive an email message written in another language, a prompt will appear at the top of the message asking if you'd like Outlook to translate it into your default language.
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If you select Translate message, Outlook will replace the message text with translated text.
You can then select Show original message to see the message in the original language or Turn on automatic translation to always translate messages in another language.
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If you select Never translate, Outlook won't ask you if you'd like to translate messages in that language in the future.
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To change your translation preferences and choose your translation language, on the View tab, select View settings. Select Mail > Message handling, and then, under Translation, select the options you prefer.
Data use & privacy
Email translations provided by Translator for Outlook are powered by the online Microsoft Translator service. All data transmissions are secured via SSL, and are never stored, sampled, or shared with any first- or third-party entity. This means that all translation and processing happens on servers in-memory only. (This is also known as the "no-trace" option from Microsoft Translator.)
See also
Change your translation settings in Outlook.com and Outlook on the web