diff --git a/doc/development/i18n/externalization.md b/doc/development/i18n/externalization.md
index f7d703b8f0b..6323275426f 100644
--- a/doc/development/i18n/externalization.md
+++ b/doc/development/i18n/externalization.md
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ Now that the new content is marked for translation, we need to update the PO
 files with the following command:
 
 ```sh
-bin/rake gettext:find
+bin/rake gettext:regenerate
 ```
 
 This command will update the `locale/gitlab.pot` file with the newly externalized
@@ -292,16 +292,6 @@ file in. Once the changes are on master, they will be picked up by
 If there are merge conflicts in the `gitlab.pot` file, you can delete the file
 and regenerate it using the same command. Confirm that you are not deleting any strings accidentally by looking over the diff.
 
-The command also updates the translation files for each language: `locale/*/gitlab.po`
-These changes can be discarded, the language files will be updated by Crowdin
-automatically.
-
-Discard all of them at once like this:
-
-```sh
-git checkout locale/*/gitlab.po
-```
-
 ### Validating PO files
 
 To make sure we keep our translation files up to date, there's a linter that is
diff --git a/lib/tasks/gettext.rake b/lib/tasks/gettext.rake
index 21998dd2f5b..6df7fe81437 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/gettext.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/gettext.rake
@@ -19,6 +19,23 @@ namespace :gettext do
     Rake::Task['gettext:po_to_json'].invoke
   end
 
+  task :regenerate do
+    # Remove all translated files, this speeds up finding
+    FileUtils.rm Dir['locale/**/gitlab.*']
+    # remove the `pot` file to ensure it's completely regenerated
+    FileUtils.rm_f 'locale/gitlab.pot'
+
+    Rake::Task['gettext:find'].invoke
+
+    # leave only the required changes.
+    `git checkout -- locale/*/gitlab.po`
+
+    puts <<~MSG
+    All done. Please commit the changes to `locale/gitlab.pot`.
+
+    MSG
+  end
+
   desc 'Lint all po files in `locale/'
   task lint: :environment do
     require 'simple_po_parser'
@@ -50,13 +67,12 @@ namespace :gettext do
   end
 
   task :updated_check do
+    pot_file = 'locale/gitlab.pot'
     # Removing all pre-translated files speeds up `gettext:find` as the
     # files don't need to be merged.
     # Having `LC_MESSAGES/gitlab.mo files present also confuses the output.
     FileUtils.rm Dir['locale/**/gitlab.*']
-
-    # Make sure we start out with a clean pot.file
-    `git checkout -- locale/gitlab.pot`
+    FileUtils.rm_f pot_file
 
     # `gettext:find` writes touches to temp files to `stderr` which would cause
     # `static-analysis` to report failures. We can ignore these.
@@ -64,18 +80,18 @@ namespace :gettext do
       Rake::Task['gettext:find'].invoke
     end
 
-    pot_diff = `git diff -- locale/gitlab.pot`.strip
+    pot_diff = `git diff -- #{pot_file} | grep -E '^(\\+|-)msgid'`.strip
 
     # reset the locale folder for potential next tasks
     `git checkout -- locale`
 
     if pot_diff.present?
       raise <<~MSG
-        Newly translated strings found, please add them to `gitlab.pot` by running:
+        Newly translated strings found, please add them to `#{pot_file}` by running:
 
-          rm locale/**/gitlab.*; bin/rake gettext:find; git checkout -- locale/*/gitlab.po
+          bin/rake gettext:regenerate
 
-        Then commit and push the resulting changes to `locale/gitlab.pot`.
+        Then commit and push the resulting changes to `#{pot_file}`.
 
         The diff was: