diff --git a/runtime/doc/gui_mac.txt b/runtime/doc/gui_mac.txt
index f502c980bb..6a6cd3bd13 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/gui_mac.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/gui_mac.txt
@@ -105,9 +105,11 @@ dropping two more, and switching back to the first tab would cause weird
 strings like "((3) of 2)" to appear in the window title.
 
 							*macvim-tablabel*
-Tab labels only show the tail of the file name to make the tabs more readable
-when editing files in deeply nested folders.  Add the line "set guitablabel="
-to your .gvimrc file to revert back to the default Vim tab label.
+By default, tab labels only show the tail of the file name to make the tabs
+more readable when editing files in deeply nested folders.  Add the line "set
+guitablabel=" to your .gvimrc file to revert back to the default Vim tab
+label.  Setting 'guitablabel' to anything in your .vimrc will also prevent
+this default from taking effect.
 
 							*macvim-options*
 These are the non-standard options that MacVim supports:
diff --git a/src/MacVim/gvimrc b/src/MacVim/gvimrc
index 58f10c5824..2d42b23944 100644
--- a/src/MacVim/gvimrc
+++ b/src/MacVim/gvimrc
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ endif
 
 " To make tabs more readable, the label only contains the tail of the file
 " name and the buffer modified flag.
-set guitablabel=%M%t
+if empty(&guitablabel)
+  set guitablabel=%M%t
+endif
 
 " Send print jobs to Preview.app.  This does not delete the temporary ps file
 " that is generated by :hardcopy.