A multilingual knowledge base lets you serve your documentation in multiple languages from a single workspace, so readers can access content in their preferred language without you having to manage separate projects.
When you add a language to a workspace, all existing categories and articles become available in that language. The content itself still needs to be translated, either manually, using Translate with Eddy AI, or through an integration like Crowdin.
Document360 supports the internationalization (i18n) of your project's Knowledge base site. All languages other than English are displayed in their native script when selecting a language for your workspace.
Why set up a multilingual knowledge base?
Serving documentation in a reader's native language reduces friction, improves comprehension, and builds trust, especially for global products where readers may not be fluent in your default language.
- Reach a global audience: Let readers access documentation in the language they're most comfortable with, without navigating away or relying on browser translation tools.
- Reduce support tickets: Localized documentation helps readers solve problems on their own, reducing language barriers that lead to support requests.
- Single source of truth: Manage all language variants from a single workspace. When your source content is updated, the structure is reflected across all languages immediately.
- Flexible translation workflows: Translate content manually, with AI, or through a dedicated localization tool like Crowdin, based on your team's resources and scale.
- SEO across languages: Localized articles can be indexed in their respective languages, improving discoverability for non-English-speaking readers.
Supported languages
Document360 supports a variety of languages for localization using Translate with Eddy AI. The languages supported by Document360 are:
Supported languages
Afrikaans, Arabic, Arabic (Egypt), Bulgarian, Cantonese, Chinese, Chinese (Simplified, People's Republic of China), Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Dutch (Belgium), English, English (Australia), English (UK), English (US), Estonian, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, French (Canada), Georgian, German, Greek, Greek (Greece), Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malagasy, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Punjabi, Romanian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Spanish (Mexico), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Russian
Add a language to a workspace
There are two ways to add a new language to a workspace.
From the Edit workspace panel
Add languages while editing an existing workspace from the Workspace & localization settings page.
Learn more →Using the Add new language icon
Quickly add a language directly from the Workspace & localization overview page without opening the Edit panel.
Learn more →From the Edit workspace panel
- Navigate to Settings () > Knowledge base portal in the left navigation bar.
- In the left navigation pane, select Workspace & localization ().
- Click the Edit () icon to the right of the workspace you want to update.
- In the Edit workspace panel, click New language.
- Search for the languages you want to add and select the checkbox next to each one.
- Click Apply.
- Click Update to save your changes.
Once the language is added, click the More options () icon next to the language name to configure the following settings:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Set as default | Sets this language as the default for the workspace on the Knowledge base site. |
| Edit display name | Updates the display name shown to readers when they select this language. |
| Right to left | Enables right-to-left text direction for languages like Arabic and Hebrew. Languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean follow their own native text layout conventions and render correctly automatically. |
| Hide | Hides the language from the Knowledge base site. Hidden languages appear with a strikethrough in the portal. |
| Remove | Removes the language from the workspace entirely. |
You cannot hide or delete the default language of a workspace. To hide or remove a language, first set a different language as the default.
Using the Add new language icon
- Navigate to Settings () > Knowledge base portal > Workspace & localization ().
- Click the Add new language icon next to the Edit () icon on the workspace row.
- Search for the desired languages and select the checkbox next to each one.
- Click Add.
Best practices
- Use a single multilingual workspace: Document360 recommends managing all language variants from a single workspace rather than creating separate workspaces per language, for simpler content management and maintenance.
- Translate high-traffic articles first: You don't need to translate everything at once. Prioritize the articles readers access most before expanding coverage.
- Hide untranslated languages until content is ready: Use the Hide option on a language to keep it off the Knowledge base site until translation is complete.
- Use Translate with Eddy AI for a first pass: Then review and refine the output manually for accuracy and tone.
- Keep translations in sync with your source content: Use review reminders to flag translated articles for update whenever the source article changes.
FAQ
Why are draft articles appearing on the Knowledge base site in other languages?
When multilingual documentation is enabled, an article published in at least one language will appear in the left navigation of the Knowledge base site across all languages. This is because the article title is shared across all language versions.
If the article is published in English but still in draft in German, it will still appear under the German navigation. Readers will see the published language's content with a notice indicating the content is unavailable in their selected language.
If you don't want draft articles appearing in other languages, hide them from the portal until the translation is ready.
Can I show the default language content when a translated article is outdated or unavailable?
Fallback to the default language occurs only when the article is not yet published in the selected secondary language. If the article is already published in a secondary language, that version is always shown, even if it's outdated.
Workaround: Temporarily unpublish the article in the secondary language. This triggers the fallback to the default language content until the updated translation is ready to publish.
What is the difference between hiding and removing a language?
Hide removes the language from the Knowledge base site but keeps it in the portal for editing. Hidden languages appear with a strikethrough in the portal. You can unhide a language at any time.
Remove permanently deletes the language and all its translated content from the workspace. This action cannot be undone.
Why does content from a published article in the default language not appear in the editor for the same article in a secondary language?
When a new article is created in the default language, it becomes available in secondary languages but the content is not automatically carried over. The article exists in the secondary language but its body remains empty until translated.
To translate content across multiple articles at once, use the All articles () page to bulk translate from the default language to the secondary language.