Read without changing anything
The tooltip floats the translation over what you're reading. The original text stays as it is.
Translate selected text with a single shortcut.
Select any text on Windows — a web page, a PDF open in your browser, a chat — and press Ctrl+Alt+S: the translation appears in a tooltip next to your cursor. To translate what you write instead, Ctrl+Alt+T.
Or translate what you write
In a text field, Ctrl+Alt+T swaps everything you typed for its translation, in the tone you choose.
Shortcuts your way
Change the key combinations in settings if they clash with another program.
How to translate selected text on Windows, step by step
You don't have to say what language the original is in: it's detected automatically. You read it in your Windows language, or in the one you pick in the settings.
- Install QuickTranslate from the Microsoft Store. It sits in the system tray, next to the clock.
- Select the text you want to understand with your mouse, in any program.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+S. The translation appears in a small box next to your cursor.
- If what you want is to translate what you write, press Ctrl+Alt+T in the text field: its whole content is replaced with the translation.
Where it works
Anywhere you can select text with your mouse: web pages in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, PDFs open in your browser, Word, Outlook, Notepad, Discord, WhatsApp, Slack, Teams or Telegram. It isn't a browser extension, so it doesn't matter which program you use.
If the text can't be selected — an image, a video, a scanned PDF or a game's subtitles — there's nothing to translate: QuickTranslate doesn't read text off the screen.
Other ways to do it, and where they fall short
Windows has no built-in shortcut to translate what you select. The usual routine is to copy the text, open Google Translate or DeepL in another tab, paste it and go back: it works, but it interrupts what you were doing every time.
The browser's translator saves you that back-and-forth, but only on web pages and by translating the whole page. With a global shortcut you read just the sentence you care about, in any program, without losing sight of the original.
In 20 seconds
See it in action.
Three steps
Zero friction.
01
Select the text
In the active field or any selection. No need to copy or switch windows.
02
Press the shortcut
Ctrl+Alt+T to translate and replace. Ctrl+Alt+S to read in a floating tooltip. Change them to your liking.
03
Done, in place
The text is translated in the tone you choose. Your clipboard is restored intact.
Frequently asked questions
What's the shortcut to translate selected text on Windows?
With QuickTranslate: Ctrl+Alt+S shows the translation in a tooltip and Ctrl+Alt+T translates what you've typed in the text field. Both can be customized.
Is the read tooltip limited?
No. Read mode is free and unlimited on every plan; the daily limit only counts translations that replace text.
Does it work outside the browser?
Yes. It works in any Windows program where you can select text — it's not a browser extension.
Translate without leaving what you're doing.
Install it once and it lives in your tray. Updates itself. Start free, no account.
