Troubleshooting

Common issues and how to fix them. The Activity Log (clipboard icon, top right) records scans, connection tests, skipped files, and errors — check it first.

API errors during translation

401 Unauthorized

Your API key is invalid or revoked.

  • Double-check you copied the full key (no leading/trailing spaces)
  • Verify the key is active in your provider’s dashboard
  • Generate a new key and re-enter it in settings

403 Forbidden

Your account can’t use the selected model.

  • Some providers require billing set up before certain models
  • Try a different model in the settings dialog
  • Check your provider dashboard for restrictions

429 Too Many Requests

You’ve hit your provider’s rate limit.

  • Free tiers have strict limits — consider upgrading
  • Wait a few minutes and start the batch again; the current desktop UI creates a new timestamped output folder for the new run
  • Switch to a provider with higher limits (Groq is generous on free tier)

500 / 503 Server Error

The provider’s servers are having issues.

  • Wait a few minutes and start the batch again; the current desktop UI creates a new timestamped output folder for the new run
  • Check the provider’s status page
  • Switch providers temporarily

Connection test fails

  1. Make sure the Base URL matches your provider exactly — see Finding Your Base URL
  2. Confirm you picked the right provider preset
  3. Re-copy the API key directly from the provider dashboard
  4. Check the model name is one your account can access

All my PDFs were skipped

The most common cause is scanned / image-only PDFs — they have no text layer to translate, so they are skipped on purpose and listed with a reason.

  • Open the Activity Log to see the exact reason per file
  • If a PDF does contain selectable text but is still skipped, it may be encrypted or malformed — try re-saving/exporting it as a fresh PDF
  • For scanned documents, run OCR first to produce a text-based file, then translate that

See Supported Files & Output.

No documents found in the folder

  • The app only scans files directly inside the chosen folder — it does not look in subfolders. Move files up into one folder.
  • Only .pdf, .docx, .txt, .md are picked up
  • Check the folder path is reachable (network/OneDrive paths can be slow or offline)

Translation stopped mid-way

If a single document/language fails, it is logged and the run continues with the rest. Failed items show in red with the reason.

To finish after an interrupted or partially-failed run, start the batch again from the app. The new attempt writes to a fresh timestamped output folder, while files from the earlier attempt remain in their original folder.

A document came out untranslated / in the wrong language

  • If you used Force source language and got the source language copied through, the document may genuinely already be in a selected target language — check the result note.
  • A wrong forced source label does not corrupt output: the model still translates from the real content. Forced source only affects the displayed label and the same-language copy decision (which is verified before copying).
  • For mixed-language folders, prefer Auto-detect.

Output files are empty or missing

  • Check the output folder exists and the app has write permission
  • On a network drive or OneDrive-synced folder, try a local path (e.g. Documents\BatchTranslate)
  • Look inside the timestamped subfolder created by the run, not the parent folder

App won’t start or crashes on launch

  • Run the app as Administrator once (right-click → Run as administrator) — helps with initial DPAPI setup
  • Make sure Windows is up to date (Windows 10 or later required)
  • Reinstall from the Microsoft Store if it persists

Still stuck?

Open an issue and include:

  • The error message (and relevant Activity Log lines)
  • Which AI provider and model you’re using
  • The input file types and target languages
  • Whether source language was auto-detected or forced