Simplified and Traditional Chinese share many characters, so the difference is not always obvious, especially in a short passage.

1. Copy a sample of the Chinese text.
2. Open our Chinese conversion and text identification resources linked below.
3. Paste the text into the identification tool to check whether it is Simplified or Traditional.

If the Chinese is already selectable, an online converter is usually the quickest way to change it into the character set you read.

1. Copy the Chinese text you want to convert.
2. Open our Chinese conversion resources linked below.
3. Choose a Simplified ↔ Traditional converter and paste in the text.
4. Copy and paste the converted result wherever you need it.

Copying and pasting every section of a webpage can become tedious. A browser extension can convert the Chinese directly on the page as you browse.

1. Install New TongWenTang using the Chrome Web Store link below.
2. Choose whether you want to convert Simplified Chinese to Traditional or Traditional Chinese to Simplified.
3. Use it to convert webpages automatically or manually while you read.

If you cannot select the Chinese, use OCR (optical character recognition) first. OCR turns text in an image into text you can copy, then you can paste it into a Simplified or Traditional converter.

1. Use your phone or computer’s built-in OCR to recognize and copy Chinese from an image or screenshot. If you need instructions, use our guide linked below.
2. If the Chinese is in a PDF and you can’t select the text, use one of our Chinese OCR resources linked below to extract it.
3. Paste the copied text into a Simplified ↔ Traditional converter.