Translate

Your computer translates the paper. Nothing leaves the machine

The machine you write on is the fastest thing you own, and Rectoly puts it to work: papers translated into the language you read in by a model running on your own graphics card. The paper is never uploaded anywhere — no API key, no per-page fee — and the translation carries over to the iPad or Android device you read on.

Rectoly on a computer: a paragraph in Reading Mode with its translation below it
How it works

See it in use

01

The translation, under the paragraph

In Reading Mode each paragraph keeps its place and its translation appears beneath it, so you can read the original and check yourself against it without losing the thread.

A paragraph in Reading Mode with its translation below it
02

The translation, only when you want it

The Translate button in Reading Mode’s header shows or hides the translation lines, so the original is never more than a click away. Bring them back and nothing is translated twice — the lines you already made are kept on this machine.

The Translate button in the Reading Mode header showing and hiding the translation under each paragraph
03

Or the page itself, translated

Choose Show Translated Text under Translate in the PDF toolbar (on the Mac, in the “…” menu) and the page keeps its layout — the same columns, the same figures in the same places — with the text in your language. Where there is room, Translated pages side by side opens the translated page beside the original. On Windows and Linux, this version leaves paragraphs with math in the original.

A PDF page shown in translation, its layout unchanged
04

It keeps translating while you work

Rectoly translates ahead of you in the paper you have open, so the next paragraphs are ready before you reach them. With “Take requests” on, it stays in the notification area on Windows — and on a Linux desktop that has one — and keeps answering your devices’ requests after you close the window.

Rectoly translating the paragraphs ahead of the one being read
05

Translate for your iPad or Android

Pair your iPad or Android device with a Windows or Linux computer and it will ask the computer for translations instead of running the model itself. The device sends the paragraphs, the computer answers on its GPU, and the translation is stored with the paper so every device has it.

A tablet paired with the computer, which is translating a paper on its behalf
When you'd use it

Where it fits in your day

The night before a deadline

Tomorrow’s reading, ready tonight

Open the paper and let Rectoly work ahead of you while the machine is plugged in. By the time you sit down to read, the translation is waiting under every paragraph.

An iPad that cannot run the model

The old iPad gets the new feature

The computer does the work and the iPad shows the result, so an older iPad reads translated papers at the same speed as a new one.

Work that cannot go to a cloud

One less service in the data plan

The paper, the translation and the model all stay on this machine. There is no third party processing the text, and no agreement to add to a data-management plan.

The details

English into 18 languages
Rectoly translates English papers into the 18 languages the app itself speaks whose quality it has measured on real papers.
How fast it is
On a recent graphics card a paragraph takes about three seconds. With no supported card Rectoly falls back to the processor, which is closer to forty seconds a paragraph — fine overnight, slow to sit and watch. On the Mac the model runs on the GPU through Metal; on the Apple silicon Mac we evaluated with, a paragraph took about two seconds.
What it needs
Windows and Linux: a 64-bit x86 processor with AVX2, and a Vulkan graphics card to be quick. Mac: 8 GB of memory or more. The model is about 2.5 GB, downloaded once from Rectoly’s own servers.
It can stay out of the way
On Windows and Linux, turn on “Take requests” and Rectoly sits in the notification area, translating requests from your devices after you close the window. On a Linux desktop without a notification area, leave the window open (minimized is fine). It stops when the machine is running on battery.
How a language becomes available
A language is offered only after it has been measured on a set of real papers. Windows and Linux have no system translator to fall back on, so a language that is not ready yet is shown as not available rather than translated badly. On the Mac (macOS 26 or later), as on the iPad, such a language is handed to the system translator, with a note saying so.
Where the translation is kept
Each paper’s translation goes in a file attached to that paper, so the tablet and the computer show the same translation without doing the work twice. It is your own copy — it is not added to shared group libraries, and the first time it syncs, Rectoly says how much of your storage it will use and asks first.
Included in the purchase
Translation is part of the app you bought — the same purchase covers it on Windows, on the Mac, on Linux, on the iPad and on Android. No subscription, no per-page fee, no key to paste in.

Every feature, free for 14 days

On Windows, Mac or Linux, everything is free for 14 days. Then it's a one-time purchase that works on every device signed in to the same account.

Pricing & download

More features

Read

Read

Papers reshaped for the screen, read beside the original or a second paper — with references a hover away.

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Think

Think

Gather annotations from every paper, compare papers section by section, and sort it all in research theme notes.

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Write up

Write up

Quotes, figures and tables, with their sources, into Word, LaTeX or Obsidian — with your manuscript open beside the paper.

Learn more