diff --git a/docs/contributing.rst b/docs/contributing.rst
index d8985b8d2..2098f7cdf 100644
--- a/docs/contributing.rst
+++ b/docs/contributing.rst
@@ -376,6 +376,9 @@ commands:
 This should generate documentation in the ``docs/_build/html``
 directory.
 
+.. note:: If you skipped the "Getting Started" instructions above,
+  run ``pip install -e ".[docs]"`` to install Certbot's docs extras modules.
+
 
 .. _docker-dev: