diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index db90d4837..24ad9a0d2 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Changelog
 
 Features:
 
+* :ref:`pathquery` are automatically triggered only if the
+  path targeted by the query exists.
 * :doc:`/plugins/duplicates` now accepts a ``--strict`` option that
   will only report duplicates if all attributes are explicitly set.
   :bug:`1000`
diff --git a/docs/reference/query.rst b/docs/reference/query.rst
index 20c5360f8..102c689d2 100644
--- a/docs/reference/query.rst
+++ b/docs/reference/query.rst
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ Find all items with a file modification time between 2008-12-01 and
     $ beet ls 'mtime:2008-12-01..2008-12-02'
 
 
+.. _pathquery:
+
 Path Queries
 ------------
 
@@ -175,8 +177,8 @@ Sometimes it's useful to find all the items in your library that are
     $ beet list path:/my/music/directory
 
 In fact, beets automatically recognizes any query term containing a path
-separator (``/`` on POSIX systems) as a path query, so this command is
-equivalent::
+separator (``/`` on POSIX systems) as a path query if that path exists, so this
+command is equivalent as long as ``/my/music/directory`` exist::
 
     $ beet list /my/music/directory