A free, open-source desktop translation tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Select text anywhere, press Ctrl+Q, and the translation appears. No browser tab needed.
What it does
- Translate text from any application — select it and press Ctrl+Q
- Translate in place with Ctrl+Shift+T — replaces your selection
- Screen OCR — draw a rectangle over anything on screen with Ctrl+I, or drag an image / paste from clipboard
- Text to speech — hear selected text with Ctrl+E
- Spell checking with live suggestions as you type
- Summarize or rewrite text in different styles
- Backward translation to spot awkward phrasing
- Translation Rules — auto-select the target language based on detected source language
- Quick Dictionary — look up any word with Ctrl+D
- Full translation history with browse & restore dialog
- RTL layout support for Arabic, Hebrew, and Farsi
- 30+ themes via FlatLaf, with OS Default that follows system dark/light
- Every hotkey is rebindable
Plugins
QTranslate uses a plugin system — translation engines, OCR, TTS, and
spell checkers are all separate .jar files installed at
runtime. When a service breaks or changes its API, you swap the plugin
without reinstalling the app.
The following plugins are included:
- Google — Translator, OCR, TTS, Spell Checker, Dictionary
- Bing — Translator, TTS, Spell Checker
- AI — Translator, Summarizer, Rewriter, Spell Checker (Gemini · GPT · Mistral · Claude)
You can build your own plugin — a minimal translator is about 50 lines of Kotlin.
Screenshots
Installation
- Install Java 11 or later — download from Adoptium and set JAVA_HOME.
-
Download
QTranslate-<version>.zipfrom GitHub Releases and unzip it anywhere. -
Run
QTranslate.jar— double-click orjava -jar QTranslate.jar. The app starts in the system tray.
Getting "this application requires a Java Runtime Environment"? This video walks through installing Java and setting JAVA_HOME — the first 7 minutes cover everything.
Releases
All new releases are published on GitHub Releases. Versioning restarts from 1.0.0 with the open-source release — the old versions below were pre-open-source and are kept here for reference only.
Version 1.2.1 Latest May 11, 2026 Download
- Dropdown now grouped into Light, Dark, and Installed sections
- New Sync with OS checkbox — tick it and the app follows your system preference automatically
- Recorder redesigned — plain field with embedded + button for special keys (Enter, Escape, F1–F12, arrows)
- Alt+1 / Alt+2 / Alt+3 focus the Input, Output, and Extra Output panes — configurable in Settings
- 20 previously untranslated strings now localised across all 12 non-English languages
- Target language no longer resets to Arabic on every launch
- Tab key now moves focus instead of inserting a literal character
- Caret now visible in read-only output panes across all themes
- Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and text drag-out work reliably in all panes
- Translator service order is now stable across restarts
- Hotkey chip text renders with proper antialiasing
Version 1.2.0 May 10, 2026 Download
- AI Services via OpenRouter — 300+ models (GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini, Llama…) for translation, summarize, rewrite, spell check, dictionary, and vision OCR — one API key covers everything
- Quick Dictionary — press Ctrl+D on any word for an instant floating lookup
- Translation History dialog — browse all past translations and restore any entry with one click
- Redesigned Settings — two-column services grid, hotkey chip badges, unsaved-changes indicator
- 30+ themes including OS Default that follows system dark/light preference
- Cancel translation and Stop TTS buttons
- OCR snap dialog — copy text, copy image, save image, re-crop without closing
- 13 interface languages — Bengali, Hungarian, and Italian added
Version 1.1.0 Apr 26, 2026 Download
- Translation Rules — automatically select the target language based on detected source language
- Image OCR via drag & drop and clipboard — drag an image or paste (Ctrl+V) to OCR and translate (PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF)
- Window size and position now persist across restarts
- Auto-detects OS language on first launch
- Race condition in plugin DataStore causing Google plugin to fail on startup
- Language dropdowns appearing empty and falling back to Arabic
- Multiple app instances now prevented — second launch brings existing window to front
- Italian added (thanks @bovirus) · Hungarian added (thanks @JohnFowler58)
Version 1.0.0 Mar 25, 2026 Download
- Open-source release — full plugin system, AI plugin, RTL support, and more
- New versioning starts here. All future releases will be on GitHub.
Version 1.1.0 legacy Download
- Cycle between translators via Ctrl+Tab
- Customisable hotkeys in Settings
- Selected languages saved between sessions
Version 1.0.0 legacy Download
- First public release
Contact
For bugs and feature requests, please use GitHub Issues. For everything else — feedback, plugin ideas, questions — email buzz.webra@gmail.com or reach out on WhatsApp.