Paper Polyglot

If you've ever been tasked with translating an Adobe InDesign document, you know the pain. You know the special kind of headache that comes from manually copying text from a Word doc, pasting it into a text box, and watching your perfectly crafted layout absolutely implode.

I've been there. Oh, have I been there. I still have flashbacks to a 48-page catalog project from a few years back. The client wanted it in four new languages. The process was… brutal. It was a digital assembly line of errors, with me, the designer, and three different translators emailing corrected PDFs back and forth for what felt like an eternity. The final products were okay, but the journey to get there took a little piece of my soul.

So when I stumbled upon a tool called Paper Polyglot, my first reaction was skepticism. An online InDesign translator that keeps the layout? Suuuure it does. But my curiosity got the better of me. And I’m so glad it did.

So, What Is This Paper Polyglot Thing?

At its core, Paper Polyglot is an online platform designed to do one thing, and do it incredibly well: translate the text within your InDesign files without you needing to have InDesign open. More importantly, it does this while preserving every last bit of your styling and layout. It’s like a digital Rosetta Stone specifically for designers and marketers.

You upload your file, handle the translation right there in your browser (or send a link to someone who can), and then download a new, fully translated file that’s ready to go. No broken text frames, no font substitution nightmares, no painstaking manual adjustments. It just… works.

Visit Paper Polyglot

The Workflow: How The Magic Actually Happens

The process is refreshingly simple, which is a massive plus. There’s no clunky software to install or steep learning curve. Here’s the gist of it.

It All Starts with an .idml File

First things first. Paper Polyglot doesn’t work with the standard .indd file. Instead, you need to export your document as an .idml file (File > Export > InDesign Markup). For those not in the know, an .idml file is basically a snapshot of your entire InDesign project—text, styles, layout info, everything—packaged up in a way that other programs can read. It’s the key that unlocks this whole process.

The Translation Playground

Once you upload your .idml file, the platform gets to work, extracting every single text frame. It then presents it all in a clean, side-by-side interface: original text on the left, translation box on the right. This is where you, or your translator, will spend your time. There’s even an AI assistant feature. With a click, it provides an automatic translation (powered by Google Translate) to give you a running start. It's not perfect, but as a first draft, it saves a ton of time.

The Dream Collaboration Feature

This might be my favorite part. You don’t need to buy a seat for your translator. You just generate a shareable link and send it over. They can open the link in their browser and start translating immediately—no login, no InDesign license required. You can even monitor their progress in real-time. This turns the process from a chaotic email chain into a streamlined, collaborative effort. It’s less of a tool and more of a peace treaty between designers and translators.

The Grand Finale: A Perfect File

Once all the text is translated and approved, you just hit download. Paper Polyglot spits out a new .idml file. You open that file in InDesign, and voilà. Your brochure, your menu, your catalog, now in a new language, with all the original styles, character counts and paragraph settings perfectly intact. It feels a bit like witnessing a magic trick the first time you do it.

Let's Talk Money: The Pricing Plans

Alright, it sounds great, but what’s the damage? Honestly, it’s surprisingly affordable, especially when you consider the hours of manual labor it saves. The pricing is broken down into three simple tiers.

In my opinion, the Solo plan is a no-brainer for freelancers who get occasional translation requests. Small agencies or businesses juggling a couple of multilingual projects at once would probably find the Duo plan to be the sweet spot. The Unlimited plan is clearly aimed at larger operations or anyone who's constantly churning out international content.

A Few Things to Know Before You Jump In

No tool is perfect for every single scenario, and it's good to know the limitations. Paper Polyglot is pretty transparent about this.

The big one is the .idml file requirement. If you don't have access to Adobe InDesign to make that initial export, you're out of luck. This tool is an accessory to an InDesign workflow, not a replacement for it.

Also, keep an eye on the character translation limits. They are quite generous, but if you're translating something massive like a novel, you'll need to be mindful of your plan's cap. For 99% of marketing materials, it's more than enough.

And just to be clear, this isn't an official Adobe product. Frankly, I see that as a plus. It feels lean and focused, built by people who clearly experienced a problem and set out to fix it, without any corporate bloat.

Your Questions, Answered (FAQ)

What file format can I translate?

This system is built specifically for Adobe InDesign and requires you to upload an .idml file, not the standard .indd file.

Is the AI translation good enough to use directly?

The AI assistant provides a fantastic first draft that can speed things up immensely. However, for professional results, you should always have a native speaker review and polish the text for nuance, cultural context, and accuracy. Think of it as a helpful intern, not a seasoned translator.

Can I use this to just edit text without changing the language?

Absolutely. You can use the system to get comments or make edits to your text frames without changing the language at all. It's a handy collaboration tool even for monolingual projects.

What if the translated text is much longer than the original?

This is a classic translation issue (looking at you, German). Paper Polyglot translates the text, but you'll still need to handle any text overflow issues back in InDesign. It gives you the correctly translated content in the right place, but you may need to adjust font sizes or text box dimensions, which is still way easier than the alternative.

Is this an official Adobe product?

No, this is an independent product not affiliated with Adobe.

My Final Verdict on Paper Polyglot

I went in skeptical and came out a convert. Paper Polyglot is one of those tools that solves a very specific, very frustrating problem with elegance and simplicity. It's not trying to be a million different things. It’s an InDesign translator that protects your layouts and streamlines your workflow, and it nails it.

For freelancers, marketing teams, and design agencies who work with multilingual content, this isn't just a nice-to-have. It’s a sanity-saver. It turns a dreaded task into a manageable—and dare I say, almost pleasant—process. If you've ever felt the pain of a botched InDesign translation, do yourself a favor and check this one out. Your future self will thank you.

Reference and Sources

• Paper Polyglot Official Website
• Paper Polyglot Pricing Information
• Adobe Help Center: Saving InDesign Documents (for .idml info)