CamScanner Translate Image

Use CamScanner to translate text in images to another language while preserving the original layout. Detects text in the image, translates it to the target language, and renders the translated text back onto the image. Use when the user wants to translate text in an image, photo, screenshot, or scanned document to another language. Triggers on "translate image", "translate text in image", "image translation", "translate this to English/Japanese/Korean/etc.", or when the user has an image with foreign text and wants it translated.

Overview

CamScanner provides image translation: detect text in images, translate to the target language, and render translated text preserving the original layout. The workflow is a 3-step pipeline: upload the image, translate it, then download the result.

When to Use

• User wants to translate text in an image to another language
• User has a photo, screenshot, or scanned document with foreign text
• User wants to understand text in an image that is in a different language

Privacy & Data

Important: Privacy & Data Flow Notice

• Third-party service: This skill sends your files to CamScanner's official servers (ai-tools.camscanner.com) for processing.
• Data retention: CamScanner servers process your files in real-time. Files are not permanently stored on the server.
• Local files: Output files are saved to your local filesystem at the path you specify.

API Reference

Base URL: https://ai-tools.camscanner.com

Target Language (to parameter)

The to parameter specifies the target language code. Determine it from the user's intent.

Common language mapping (use this first):

User says (English)	User says (Chinese)	to code
English	英语/英文	en
Chinese Simplified	简体中文/中文	zh-Hans
Chinese Traditional	繁体中文	zh-Hant
Cantonese	粤语	yue
Japanese	日语/日文	ja
Korean	韩语/韩文	ko
French	法语/法文	fr
German	德语/德文	de
Spanish	西班牙语	es
Portuguese	葡萄牙语	pt
Russian	俄语/俄文	ru
Arabic	阿拉伯语	ar
Italian	意大利语	it
Dutch	荷兰语	nl
Thai	泰语/泰文	th
Vietnamese	越南语	vi
Indonesian	印尼语	id
Malay	马来语	ms
Turkish	土耳其语	tr
Polish	波兰语	pl
Swedish	瑞典语	sv
Danish	丹麦语	da
Hindi	印地语	hi
Bengali/Bangla	孟加拉语	bn
Ukrainian	乌克兰语	uk
Czech	捷克语	cs
Greek	希腊语	el
Hebrew	希伯来语	he
Finnish	芬兰语	fi
Hungarian	匈牙利语	hu

If the target language is NOT in the table above, look up the language code dynamically:

bash

LANG_DATA=$(curl -sS "https://open.camscanner.com/sync/get_languages")
# Parse LANG_DATA to find the matching language code by name or chineseName
# Example: find code for "Romanian"
TO=$(echo "$LANG_DATA" | jq -r '.data | to_entries[] | select(.value.name == "Romanian" or .value.chineseName == "罗马尼亚语") | .key')

The API returns all supported languages with name (English), nativeName, and chineseName (Chinese) fields.

Step 1: Upload Image

bash

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"

IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@/path/to/image.png" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

Response:

json

{
  "code": 200,
  "tool": "upload_file",
  "tool_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "file_id": "file_1741857600_ab12cd34ef56",
      "size": 24576
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Translate Image

bash

OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/translate_image/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"to\":\"$TO\"}" \
  | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

Replace $TO with the target language code (e.g., en, ja, zh-Hans).

Response:

json

{
  "code": 200,
  "tool": "translate_image",
  "tool_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "file_id": "file_1741857701_9988aabbccdd",
      "target_type": ""
    },
    "metadata": {
      "engine": "imagetranslate"
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Download Result

bash

curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
  -o /path/to/translated.png

Critical: The response_mode=raw query parameter is required to get the binary file. Without it, the response is JSON.

Quick Reference: Complete Pipeline

bash

BASE="https://ai-tools.camscanner.com"
INPUT_IMAGE="/path/to/image.png"
OUTPUT_FILE="/path/to/translated.png"
TO="en"   # target language code — see mapping table above

# Upload
IN_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/upload_file/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  --data-binary "@$INPUT_IMAGE" | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Translate
OUT_FILE_ID=$(curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/translate_image/execute" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$IN_FILE_ID\",\"to\":\"$TO\"}" \
  | jq -r '.tool_result.data.file_id')

# Download
curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/tools/download_file/execute?response_mode=raw" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"file_id\":\"$OUT_FILE_ID\"}" \
  -o "$OUTPUT_FILE"

Language Code Lookup (for uncommon languages)

If the user requests a language not in the common mapping table, look it up dynamically:

bash

TARGET_LANG="Romanian"   # or Chinese name like "罗马尼亚语"

LANG_DATA=$(curl -sS "https://open.camscanner.com/sync/get_languages")
TO=$(echo "$LANG_DATA" | jq -r --arg lang "$TARGET_LANG" \
  '.data | to_entries[] | select(.value.name == $lang or .value.chineseName == $lang or .value.nativeName == $lang) | .key')

if [ -z "$TO" ] || [ "$TO" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Unsupported language: $TARGET_LANG"; exit 1
fi

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Forgetting response_mode=raw on download	Always append ?response_mode=raw to the download URL
Wrong Content-Type on upload	Upload uses application/octet-stream, not multipart/form-data
Using GET instead of POST	All three endpoints use POST
Missing to parameter	Always include target language code in the translate request
Wrong language code	Use codes from the mapping table; for uncommon languages, use the lookup API
Using "zh" instead of "zh-Hans"	Chinese Simplified is zh-Hans, not zh; Traditional is zh-Hant

Error Handling

Check each step before proceeding:

bash

# After upload
if [ -z "$IN_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$IN_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Upload failed"; exit 1
fi

# After translate
if [ -z "$OUT_FILE_ID" ] || [ "$OUT_FILE_ID" = "null" ]; then
  echo "Translation failed"; exit 1
fi