---
title: "Setting Up Multilingual"
description: "It makes sense to speak your customers' language, which is why we have tools to help you translate your docs. You can write your docs in as many languages as you can think of."
url: "https://support.helpdocs.io/article/43QNppaDit-setting-up-multilingual-docs"
category: "Multilingual Translation"
updated_at: "2025-10-08T16:23:25Z"
---

# Setting Up Multilingual

Supporting customers from different regions around the world? We have a bunch of tools to help you write your Knowledge Base in different languages. Once your Knowledge Base is translated visitors can choose which version to read.

We'll use the visitor's browser language if it's a good match. Otherwise we'll send them to your default language.

Learn more about how multilingual works for translating your content [over here](/article/NjjPixGLuy-translating-your-docs)

### Enabling Multilingual HelpDocs

[Enable and Manage Multilingual Documentation in HelpDocs](https://demo.arcade.software/7WwPAI1qpFE1mM0PsnJF?embed&embed_mobile=tab&embed_desktop=inline&show_copy_link=true)

1. Head to **Settings** > **Language** (or [click here](https://my.helpdocs.io/app/settings?tab=language))
2. Go to the **Multilingual** tab
3. Check **Enable**
4. Choose your default language
5. Add any secondary languages under **Additional Languages**
6. Hit **Save Changes**

While all articles must be published in your default language you can publish a subset in your secondary languages.

### Setting Your Default Language

When enabling multilingual HelpDocs you'll need to choose a default language. We'll redirect users here if they haven't already selected another language. We recommend choosing the language your customers will most likely use.

For example:

- If you're a **French company** who serves customers mainly in **French** it would be sensible to set the **default language to Français** 🇫🇷
- If you're a **Dutch company** who serves customers mainly in **English** it would be sensible to set the **default language to English** 🇬🇧

### Setting Your Secondary Languages

You can choose as many secondary languages as you'd like and the autocomplete will help you find the ones you need.

Once you're done translating your [articles](/article/h7v4sf98br-translating-articles) and [categories](/article/vabx5db7i3-translating-categories) for customers these languages will appear in the top right of the navigation bar (depending on [the template](/article/uQDebSnIrD-choosing-a-layout) you're using).

Need to add regional language variants like UK English or French Canadian? Contact us and we'll help set these up for your Knowledge Base.

![](https://files.helpdocs.io/Ytt2uahFxY/articles/43QNppaDit/1597580372886/change-language-kb.gif)

Can't find the language you're looking for? [Get in touch](mailto:hi@helpdocs.io?subject=My%20Language%20Isn%27t%20Supported) and we'll see what we can do.

#### Optimizing for Search

We automatically optimize your multilingual content for search where we can. We support stemming and tokenization in dozens of languages for the best possible results and fall back to sensible defaults on all other languages. In general you can expect great search results across the board 🔎

If you're having any issues with search [get in touch](mailto:hi@helpdocs.io?subject=Unexpected%20multilingual%20search%20results)! We'd love to hear a) what your search term was and b) what results you expected (and didn't expect) to see.

### Plan language limits

[Some of our plans](https://www.helpdocs.io/pricing) have limits on the number of languages you can add, whilst some have unlimited languages available. If you see a message indicating you've used all of your available languages, you can [choose a new plan](/article/OaBvIkzXow-changing-your-plan) in your account or contact support to unlock more.