Behind the Scenes: Localizing AppFlowy to Arabic and Perfecting Its Documentation

Why I Chose to Contribute to AppFlowy: Localization, and Documentation Review

Among the many open-source projects available, I selected AppFlowy for my contributions—specifically, translating its content from English to Arabic and reviewing its documentation. My decision was based on several key factors:

1. Open-Source Alternative to Notion: AppFlowy provides a powerful, privacy-focused alternative to Notion.
2. Personal Knowledge Management: As someone well-versed in Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and a lifelong learner I attest it serves as an effective tool for building a “second brain” to organize information.
3. Technology Stack: Built with Dart, Flutter, and Rust, it aligns with modern development practices.
4. Growing Popularity: The project is gaining traction in the productivity space.
5. Accessible Team: The AppFlowy team is relatively small, making collaboration straightforward via GitHub and Discord. I’ve even had the opportunity to interact directly with one of the co-founders multiple times.

Localization Work for AppFlowy

For these reasons, I dedicated 25 hours to localizing AppFlowy into Arabic, completing the translation of all UI strings. Now, maintaining the translation requires only 15 minutes per week to update new strings as they’re added.

To ensure consistency, I maintained a glossary throughout the localization process. However, since localization is an ongoing effort, I’ve implemented a monthly review cycle to refine translations and address any inconsistencies.

Documentation Proofreading and Review

As both a linguist and a tech enthusiast, I understand the critical role documentation plays in a project’s success. To ensure accuracy in AppFlowy’s documentation, I employ a structured review process using the following tools and techniques:

• GitHub: Download the entire documentation repository.
• Bash Script: Merge all Markdown files into a single document for streamlined review:

   find . -type f -name "*.md" -exec cat {} >> mergedfiles.md \;

1. find: Recursively searches directories.
2. -type f -name "*.md": Targets only Markdown files.
3. -exec cat {} >> mergedfiles.md: Combines all files into mergedfiles.md.

• Grammarly: Initial grammar and spelling checks.
• AI Tools: Cross-validation using multiple AI models to ensure semantic accuracy and general language consistency.
• Manual Review: Final refinement before submitting GitHub issues for corrections.

Limitations of Grammarly and the Role of AI

While Grammarly is useful for catching grammatical errors, it occasionally misses semantic inaccuracies. For example, in this GitHub issue, I identified an error that Grammarly overlooked but AI tools detected. Moving forward, I plan to rely more on AI-powered review (with file upload capabilities) to improve precision, supplementing Grammarly’s output with deeper contextual analysis.

This hybrid approach—combining automated tools with manual oversight—ensures the highest quality in AppFlowy’s documentation while optimizing efficiency.

The following is an example of an AI prompt that provides structure to your review:

Is there any language or grammar issue on the attached file, suggest edits & improvements in a list with a original vs improved version, give a title to each inaccuracy you find.

The output is something like:

1. Idiom Error: “tits and bits”

• Original: “Using these tits and bits you can combine and create your own perfect workspace.”
• Improved: “Using these bits and pieces you can combine and create your own perfect workspace.”

2. Word Choice: “workplace” vs “workspace”

• Original: “While having all these features is excellent, creating your ideal workplace from scratch every time can be cumbersome.”
• Improved: “While having all these features is excellent, creating your ideal workspace from scratch every time can be cumbersome.”

Conclusion

Contributing to AppFlowy has been a rewarding intersection of linguistics, technology, and open-source collaboration. By localizing the app into Arabic and refining its documentation through a hybrid approach—leveraging both automated tools and manual review—I’ve helped make the project more accessible while ensuring technical accuracy. Moving forward, I aim to further optimize the process by integrating advanced AI review techniques, minimizing human oversight gaps, and supporting AppFlowy’s global growth.