How to Translate an Email in Outlook
An email arrives in Spanish, Polish or Mandarin. You don't need to copy it into a website — Outlook has a translator built in. One click gives you the whole message in English, and it can do the same for every message in a language you don't read.
Quick reference
| What you want | How |
|---|---|
| Translate a whole email | Click Translate message in the banner, or ⋯ → Translate |
| Translate a sentence | Select it → right-click → Translate |
| Translate automatically | Settings → Mail → Message handling → Translation |
| Translate your own draft | Classic: Review → Translate; new Outlook: Copilot or write, then translate |
1. Translate an email you've received
New Outlook and Outlook on the web:
When Outlook spots an email in another language, a banner appears at the top: Translate message to: English. Click Translate message. The whole email is replaced with the translation; click Show original to switch back.
No banner? Click ⋯ (More actions) at the top of the message and choose Translate.
Classic Outlook:
1. Click the email.
2. On the Home tab, click Translate → Translate Message. (If the email is open, it's on the Message tab.)
3. The translated version opens in a pane alongside the original.
2. On the Home tab, click Translate → Translate Message. (If the email is open, it's on the Message tab.)
3. The translated version opens in a pane alongside the original.
2. Translate just a word or sentence
Select the text, right-click and choose Translate. A small pane shows the translation. In classic Outlook, Translate → Translate Selection does the same. Useful when most of an email is in English with a phrase or two you don't recognise.
3. Translate automatically
If you regularly receive email in another language:
New Outlook and Outlook on the web: Settings → Mail → Message handling → Translation. Choose Always translate and set the language you want messages translated into. You can also list languages you don't want translated — for example, if you read French perfectly well.
Classic Outlook: File → Options → Language → Translation preferences (or Translate → Translation Preferences) to set the languages and whether to ask or translate automatically.
4. Translate an email you're writing
Classic Outlook: write your email in English, select the text, then click Review → Translate → Translate Selection, choose the target language and click Insert to replace it (or copy the translation under your English text so the reader has both).
New Outlook: there's no translate button in the compose window, but if you have Copilot, ask it: "Translate this to Spanish." Otherwise, translate the text in the reading pane of a received message or in a browser, then paste.
Always keep the English version too — machine translation is good but not perfect, and the recipient may read English better than you expect.
5. On your phone
In the Outlook app, open the email, tap ⋯ and choose Translate. The app translates to your phone's language.
Troubleshooting
The Translate banner never appears. Turn it on: Settings → Mail → Message handling → Translation → Ask me before translating. In classic Outlook, check Translate → Translation Preferences.
The translation is nonsense. Marketing email with pictures of text, or email in a mix of languages, confuses it. Select a paragraph and translate just that.
It translates emails I can already read. Add that language to the Don't translate list in the same settings page.
Wrapping up
Click Translate message when the banner appears, set Always translate if it's a regular thing, and keep your own English text alongside any translation you send.
