LLM Translator

Features • Quick Start • Recommended Settings • Usage Guide • Other Services • Windows Notes • FAQ • Development

A local LLM-powered translation plugin for Obsidian, supporting real-time text selection translation in PDF and Markdown files.

Features

📌 Multiple Translation Sources

• Local LLM (Ollama) — Private, offline, unlimited usage
• Cloud API (OpenAI-Compatible) — Connect DeepSeek, OpenRouter, and more
• Google Translate / Bing Translate — No config needed, one-click switch

📄 Multi-format Document Support

• PDF Documents — Default support, auto-translate on selection
• Markdown Documents — Enable "Global" mode in settings

🎯 Smart Interaction

• Auto-popup translation window on text selection
• Sidebar translation panel for manual input
• Copy / Retry / One-click language switch
• Custom translation prompt for professional needs

🌐 Multi-language Interface

• Automatically follows Obsidian system language
• Supports Chinese / English interface

✏️ Native PDF Highlight Annotations

• Persistent highlights — Written as standard PDF annotations, visible across all PDF readers
• 5 colors — Yellow, Red, Blue, Green, Purple; configurable default
• Highlight notes — Click any highlight to attach a note, stored in the PDF
• Toggle & undo — Click again to remove, Cmd+Z / Ctrl+Z to undo

Quick Start

# 1. Install Ollama (macOS / Linux)
curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh

# 2. Pull translation model (recommended HY-MT2-1.8B)
ollama pull RogerBen/HY-MT2-1.8B:latest

# 3. After installing the plugin, select Local LLM in settings
#    Enter endpoint http://localhost:11434 and model name
#    Click Test to verify connection

💡 Windows Users: Download the installer from the Ollama website. Ollama will run automatically in the background after installation.

Install Plugin

Download and install via Terminal:

# Create plugin directory
mkdir -p YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/llm-translator

# Download Release files
curl -sL https://github.com/KimFischer99/Obsidian-LLM-Translator/releases/download/0.3.0/main.js \
  -o YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/llm-translator/main.js
curl -sL https://github.com/KimFischer99/Obsidian-LLM-Translator/releases/download/0.3.0/manifest.json \
  -o YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/llm-translator/manifest.json
curl -sL https://github.com/KimFischer99/Obsidian-LLM-Translator/releases/download/0.3.0/styles.css \
  -o YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/llm-translator/styles.css

Replace YourVault with your Obsidian vault path. Restart Obsidian and enable LLM Translator in Settings → Community plugins.

Recommended Settings

After installing the plugin, configure as follows:

General Settings

Service Settings

Advanced Settings

Usage Guide

Basic Operations

1. Auto-translate — Select text in PDF or Markdown, translation popup appears automatically
2. Sidebar — Click the language icon on the left toolbar to open the right-side translation panel
3. Manual translate — Enter text in the sidebar and click Translate

Translation Scope

• Global — Both PDF and Markdown support selection translation
• PDF only — Only enable in PDF files (default)

Sidebar Features

• Translation service switch — Quickly switch Local LLM / Cloud API / Google / Bing
• Language selection — Set source and target languages
• Auto-Trans — Toggle auto-translation
• Copy — Copy source (Raw), translation (Result), or Both
• Clear — Clear current translation history

Custom Prompt

Modify the translation prompt in Settings → Advanced → Custom prompt:

Translate the following academic text. Preserve technical terminology,
citations, and formulas. Output only the translation.

Other Translation Services

Cloud API (OpenAI-Compatible)

Supports any OpenAI-compatible API provider:

Google Translate / Bing Translate

No configuration required. Select directly from the translation service dropdown.

⚠️ Free translation services have rate limits. For heavy usage, switch to local models or cloud APIs.

Windows Notes

Ollama Installation

• Download the Windows installer from the Ollama website
• Runs automatically in the background after installation
• Port is the same as macOS: http://localhost:11434
• If connection fails, check Windows Firewall settings

URL Format

• Use forward slashes /: http://localhost:11434 (correct)
• Do not use backslashes: http://localhost:11434\ (wrong)

FAQ

Connection test failed?

1. Confirm Ollama is running (there should be an Ollama icon in the taskbar)
2. Try accessing http://localhost:11434 in your browser to verify
3. Check if another program is using port 11434

Translation popup not showing?

• Confirm "Auto-translate selected text" and "Enable reader selection popup" are enabled
• Try restarting Obsidian

Markdown files won't translate?

• Set "Translation scope" to "Global"

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Development mode (watch for file changes)
npm run dev

# Production build
npm run build

After building, copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css to:

YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/llm-translator/

License

MIT License © 2026