How to Translate Web Pages in Microsoft Edge

Since Microsoft made the shift to the Chromium-based browser Edge, its translation abilities have improved greatly. After all, access to a world of information is only helpful if you can understand it.

There are now several ways to translate a page (or parts of it) in Microsoft Edge seamlessly. This article will show you a few of them, along with a few other translation tips and tricks.

Set Up and Translate Web Pages in Edge Easily

With Microsoft Edge, no longer do you have to copy and paste walls of text into a translator in another tab. Edge has an auto-translate feature, designed to detect pages mostly written in any language not listed as a preferred language in your browser settings.

To ensure that this feature pops up at the right times, you’ll need to set up your preferred languages first. Here’s how:

1. Click the hamburger menu (the three dots) in the top right of your browser, and select “Settings” from the dropdown menu.
2. A new tab will open with a “Settings” side menu. Select the “Languages” option.
3. In the “Languages” subgroup, you’ll see your list of currently preferred languages (and regional variants). Click the “Add languages” button to select additional languages.
4. Click “Add” to add your selected languages to your list of preferred languages.
5. Below the “Languages” subgroup, you’ll see the option “Offer to translate pages that aren’t in a language I read.” Ensure that the slider is dragged to “On.”
6. Your browser should now automatically detect pages not in your preferred language and offer automatic translation.

Different Ways to Translate a Page

Now that Edge has your preferred languages stored, you can start translating pages. Here are the simplest ways to do so:

Automatic Translation

This first method is the easiest, because Edge does all the work. All it requires is a little setup. Here’s what to do:

1. Open a webpage that’s in a language not in your preferred list.
2. In the corner of the search bar, Edge’s Translate icon will appear. If this is your first time opening a page in this language, this option will automatically appear.
3. Choose the language into which you’d like to translate the page.
4. Click the “More” button and choose “Always translate XXXX” to enable automatic translation.
5. Click the “Translate” button.

All webpages in the current language will now be translated automatically to your language of choice. If you want to revert to the original language or to change the translation language, then click the Translate icon in the search bar to adjust the settings.

Manual Translation

If, for whatever reason, you want to skip automatic translation, but do a once-off translation of a particular webpage, here’s what to do:

1. On the webpage, select the Translate icon manually, or wait for its window to pop up automatically.
2. Choose your preferred language from the drop-down menu, and then click “Translate.” The page will be converted into your chosen language.
3. If you don’t want to translate the entire page, click the “More” button next to “Translate” and choose either “Not Now” (to skip this instance), “Never translate XXXX,” or “Never translate this site” to skip automatic conversion entirely. The final option won’t add the page’s language to your list of preferred languages.

Again, if you change your mind at any point, just click the Translate icon in the search bar to adjust your settings.

Partial Translation

If you just need a piece of a webpage translated, you can easily do so by highlighting it and converting it automatically. Here’s how:

1. Select the block of text you want to translate.
2. Right click on the highlighted text to bring up the context menu.
3. Click “Translate selection to XXXX” to convert the text to your top preferred language.
4. The text will be translated, and stay that way until the page reloads.
5. To change the text back to the original language, click the Translate icon in the search bar and select “Show original.”

Use CoPilot

Microsoft’s helpful AI can also be used to translate blocks of text. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the CoPilot side menu by clicking its icon in the top right of the browser.
2. Copy (Ctrl + C) and Paste (Ctrl + V) the text you want to translate into the chat window and prompt the AI to translate it into a certain language.
3. CoPilot will translate and return the translated text.