How To Translate Text in Google Sheets with 1 Click

I will show you on how you can effortlessly translate text within your Google Sheets, be it a single cell, an entire sheet, or a full spreadsheet. We have two options, via the GOOGLETRANSLATE formula that you can access in the cells or via our amazing Google Sheets add-on, FileDrop.

Let’s dive right in!

(Please also see our article about how to translate Google Slides with FileDrop)

Translate Google Sheets cells with GOOGLETRANSLATE formula

GOOGLETRANSLATE allows users to easily translate text in a Google Sheets cell. By leveraging Google’s vast linguistic database, this formula provides real-time translation without having to leave the comfort of your spreadsheet or employ an external translation tool.

Sample Usage:

• Translating a static text: =GOOGLETRANSLATE("Hello World","en","es")
• Translating based on cell references: GOOGLETRANSLATE(A2,B2,C2)
• Auto-detecting the source language: GOOGLETRANSLATE(A2)

If you don’t know how to use the formula, you can ask our FileDrop Bot from website or directly in Google Sheet via the Sheets AI sidebar.

2. Syntax and Parameters

The function follows the general structure: GOOGLETRANSLATE(text, [source_language, target_language])

Parameters:

• text: This refers to the content you wish to translate. It should be either:
  • Directly inputted within quotation marks (e.g., “Hello”).
  • A reference to a specific cell containing the text (e.g., A1).
• source_language (Optional): This specifies the original language’s two-letter code.
  • Example: “en” stands for English, “ko” for Korean.
  • By default, if not mentioned, the function will automatically try to detect the source language (“auto”).

  Note: If the source_language isn’t specified, you can’t specify the target_language either.

• target_language (Optional): This determines the output language’s two-letter code.
  • Example: “ja” means Japanese.
  • If left unspecified, the translation will default to the system’s primary language setting.

3. Additional Resources

For users seeking to identify the language of a particular text without translating it, Google Sheets provides the DETECTLANGUAGE function. It examines text within a specified range and pinpoints the language used.

4. Practical Examples

To better understand how GOOGLETRANSLATE works in real-world scenarios, here are some practical examples:

Google Translate offers a a great online translation service used by millions worldwide to convert words, phrases, and longer texts into their desired languages. Yet, a segment of users have concerns about its precision, suggesting that the tool was better suited for translating individual words and phrases rather than full sentences or paragraphs.

And this is where FileDrop’s Translate PRO comes in.

Translate Google Sheets with FileDrop’s Translate Pro feature

If you’re unfamiliar with FileDrop, it’s a dedicated file manager designed for Google Sheets. It offers the convenience of drag-and-drop, enabling you to insert files into your cells seamlessly. But that’s just scratching the surface of what File Drop can do, and today I’m going to highlight our translation feature.

You can use this feature in conjunction with AI, but in this example, we’ll focus on using the ‘Translate Pro’ tool. If you’re a user of the free version, you’re provided with five credits every month that you can use to translate any content within your Google Sheets.

(if you don’t have FileDrop installed you can install it from here)

First, open Extensions-> FileDrop->Translate PRO menu in your Google Sheets document.

For illustration, let’s consider some sample text about wheat. The goal here is to translate this English text into French. With the Translate Pro tool, you don’t need to manually select the source language – the tool automatically detects it for you.

Next, we look at the ‘translate scope’ option. Here, you can choose to translate the ‘selected cell’, the ‘current sheet’, or all the ‘sheets’. If you have an extensive amount of text spread across multiple cells, you can opt to translate the whole sheet.

One notable feature of the tool is its capacity to create a backup of your work. By clicking a single button, you can generate a new duplicate sheet. This comes in handy when you want to preserve the original content.

With your text and language selected, all that’s left is to initiate the translation process. Click on the ‘Translate’ button, and the tool will quickly convert your text into French.

And there you have it – the entire text translated into French in a matter of seconds! Please view the video below to see all this in action.

I hope you found this guide informative and that you’re excited to start using this translation feature in your own Google Sheets.

Supported languages:

Remember, with File Drop, you’re just a few clicks away from translating any text you want, making your workflow much more efficient and convenient.