diff --git a/lib/server/generate.js b/lib/server/generate.js
index d7f05ad8b1..42b8882738 100644
--- a/lib/server/generate.js
+++ b/lib/server/generate.js
@@ -106,9 +106,9 @@ function execute() {
 
     let file;
     if (metadata.version) {
-      if (ENABLE_TRANSLATION) {
+      if (ENABLE_TRANSLATION && metadata.language !== "en") {
         file =
-          CWD + "/versioned_docs/" + metadata.language + "/" + metadata.source;
+          CWD + "/translated_docs/" + metadata.language + "/" + metadata.source;
       } else {
         file = CWD + "/versioned_docs/" + metadata.source;
       }
@@ -120,9 +120,11 @@ function execute() {
           CWD + "/translated_docs/" + metadata.language + "/" + metadata.source;
       }
     }
+
     if (!fs.existsSync(file)) {
       return;
     }
+    
     let rawContent = readMetadata.extractMetadata(fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8"))
       .rawContent;
 
diff --git a/lib/server/server.js b/lib/server/server.js
index e0fe145f15..9ea89fce3a 100644
--- a/lib/server/server.js
+++ b/lib/server/server.js
@@ -159,9 +159,9 @@ function execute(port) {
 
     let file;
     if (metadata.version) {
-      if (ENABLE_TRANSLATION) {
+      if (ENABLE_TRANSLATION && metadata.language !== "en") {
         file =
-          CWD + "/versioned_docs/" + metadata.language + "/" + metadata.source;
+          CWD + "/translated_docs/" + metadata.language + "/" + metadata.source;
       } else {
         file = CWD + "/versioned_docs/" + metadata.source;
       }
diff --git a/lib/server/versionFallback.js b/lib/server/versionFallback.js
index 4683ea7d48..a902590ac1 100644
--- a/lib/server/versionFallback.js
+++ b/lib/server/versionFallback.js
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ const fs = require("fs");
 const path = require("path");
 const diff = require("diff");
 const assert = require("assert");
+
+const versions = require(CWD + "/versions.json");
 const siteConfig = require(CWD + "/siteConfig.js");
 
 const ENABLE_TRANSLATION = fs.existsSync(CWD + "/languages.js");
@@ -68,20 +70,7 @@ function extractMetadata(content) {
 
 /*****************************************************************/
 
-// versions is an array of all versions currently in use
-const versions = [];
-const versionFolder = ENABLE_TRANSLATION
-  ? CWD + "/versioned_docs/en/"
-  : CWD + "/versioned_docs/";
-let files = glob.sync(versionFolder + "*");
-files.forEach(file => {
-  if (!fs.lstatSync(file).isDirectory()) {
-    return;
-  }
-  const version = file.split("version-")[1];
-  versions.push(version);
-});
-versions.sort(semver.rcompare);
+const versionFolder = CWD + "/versioned_docs/";
 
 // available stores doc ids of documents that are available for
 // each version
@@ -184,8 +173,6 @@ function processVersionMetadata(file, version, useVersion, language) {
 
 // return all metadata of versioned documents
 function docData() {
-  const files = glob.sync(CWD + "/versioned_docs/**");
-
   allIds = new Set();
   Object.keys(versionFiles).forEach(version => {
     Object.keys(versionFiles[version]).forEach(id => {
diff --git a/lib/version.js b/lib/version.js
index ebb48b1e40..16510edbee 100644
--- a/lib/version.js
+++ b/lib/version.js
@@ -9,16 +9,15 @@
  * of patent rights can be found in the PATENTS file in the same directory.
  */
 
-const CWD = process.cwd();
 const glob = require("glob");
 const fs = require("fs-extra");
 const path = require("path");
 const mkdirp = require("mkdirp");
-const semver = require("semver");
 const readMetadata = require("./server/readMetadata.js");
 const versionFallback = require("./server/versionFallback.js");
 
-const ENABLE_TRANSLATION = fs.existsSync(CWD + "/languages.js");
+const CWD = process.cwd();
+const versions = require(CWD + "/versions.json");
 
 let version;
 
@@ -37,9 +36,9 @@ if (typeof version === "undefined") {
   process.exit(1);
 }
 
-if (!(version = semver.valid(version))) {
+if (versions.includes(version)) {
   console.error(
-    "Invalid version!\nSpecify a valid version following the specifications at http://semver.org/."
+    "This verison already exists!\nSpecify a new version to create that does not already exist."
   );
   process.exit(1);
 }
@@ -53,10 +52,8 @@ function makeHeader(metadata) {
   return header;
 }
 
-let versionFolder = CWD + "/versioned_docs/version-" + version;
-if (ENABLE_TRANSLATION) {
-  versionFolder = CWD + "/versioned_docs/en/version-" + version;
-}
+const versionFolder = CWD + "/versioned_docs/version-" + version;
+
 mkdirp.sync(versionFolder);
 
 // copy necessary files to new version, changing some of its metadata to reflect the versioning
@@ -81,12 +78,9 @@ files.forEach(file => {
   metadata.original_id = metadata.id;
   metadata.id = "version-" + version + "-" + metadata.id;
 
-  let targetFile =
+  const targetFile =
     CWD + "/versioned_docs/version-" + version + "/" + path.basename(file);
-  if (ENABLE_TRANSLATION) {
-    targetFile =
-      CWD + "/versioned_docs/en/version-" + version + "/" + path.basename(file);
-  }
+
   fs.writeFileSync(targetFile, makeHeader(metadata) + rawContent, "utf8");
 });
 
@@ -117,3 +111,7 @@ if (versionFallback.diffLatestSidebar()) {
     "utf8"
   );
 }
+
+// update versions.json file
+versions.unshift(version);
+fs.writeFileSync(CWD + "/versions.json", JSON.stringify(versions, null, 2));