diff --git a/doc/manual/local.mk b/doc/manual/local.mk
index b771688854a..698a9289bc8 100644
--- a/doc/manual/local.mk
+++ b/doc/manual/local.mk
@@ -175,6 +175,16 @@ $(d)/src/SUMMARY-rl-next.md: $(d)/src/release-notes/rl-next.md
 # Generate the HTML manual.
 .PHONY: manual-html
 manual-html: $(docdir)/manual/index.html
+
+# Open the built HTML manual in the default browser.
+manual-html-open: $(docdir)/manual/index.html
+	@echo "  OPEN  " $<; \
+	  xdg-open $< \
+		  || open $< \
+			|| { \
+		echo "Could not open the manual in a browser. Please open '$<'" >&2; \
+		false; \
+		}
 install: $(docdir)/manual/index.html
 
 # Generate 'nix' manpages.
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/contributing/documentation.md b/doc/manual/src/contributing/documentation.md
index 46cca759d83..88b0bdaa9bb 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/contributing/documentation.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/contributing/documentation.md
@@ -27,11 +27,9 @@ and open `./result-doc/share/doc/nix/manual/index.html`.
 To build the manual incrementally, [enter the development shell](./hacking.md) and run:
 
 ```console
-make manual-html -j $NIX_BUILD_CORES
+make manual-html-open -j $NIX_BUILD_CORES
 ```
 
-and open `./outputs/doc/share/doc/nix/manual/language/index.html`.
-
 In order to reflect changes to the [Makefile for the manual], clear all generated files before re-building:
 
 [Makefile for the manual]: https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/master/doc/manual/local.mk