diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
index 767cf4d4bd..118c902e7a 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
@@ -108,9 +108,10 @@ Sending
 --envelope-sender=<address>::
 	Specify the envelope sender used to send the emails.
 	This is useful if your default address is not the address that is
-	subscribed to a list. If you use the sendmail binary, you must have
-	suitable privileges for the -f parameter. Default is the value of
-	the 'sendemail.envelopesender' configuration variable; if that is
+	subscribed to a list. In order to use the 'From' address, set the
+	value to "auto". If you use the sendmail binary, you must have
+	suitable privileges for the -f parameter.  Default is the value of the
+	'sendemail.envelopesender' configuration variable; if that is
 	unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to your MTA.
 
 --smtp-encryption=<encryption>::
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index f5ba4e7699..9f44e2964a 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -861,7 +861,9 @@ sub send_message
 
 	my @sendmail_parameters = ('-i', @recipients);
 	my $raw_from = $sanitized_sender;
-	$raw_from = $envelope_sender if (defined $envelope_sender);
+	if (defined $envelope_sender && $envelope_sender ne "auto") {
+		$raw_from = $envelope_sender;
+	}
 	$raw_from = extract_valid_address($raw_from);
 	unshift (@sendmail_parameters,
 			'-f', $raw_from) if(defined $envelope_sender);
diff --git a/t/t9001-send-email.sh b/t/t9001-send-email.sh
index 0164629ed0..c23ea0f3c5 100755
--- a/t/t9001-send-email.sh
+++ b/t/t9001-send-email.sh
@@ -112,6 +112,23 @@ test_expect_success \
     'Verify commandline' \
     'test_cmp expected commandline1'
 
+test_expect_success 'Send patches with --envelope-sender=auto' '
+    clean_fake_sendmail &&
+     git send-email --envelope-sender=auto --suppress-cc=sob --from="Example <nobody@example.com>" --to=nobody@example.com --smtp-server="$(pwd)/fake.sendmail" $patches 2>errors
+'
+
+cat >expected <<\EOF
+!nobody@example.com!
+!-i!
+!nobody@example.com!
+!author@example.com!
+!one@example.com!
+!two@example.com!
+EOF
+test_expect_success \
+    'Verify commandline' \
+    'test_cmp expected commandline1'
+
 cat >expected-show-all-headers <<\EOF
 0001-Second.patch
 (mbox) Adding cc: A <author@example.com> from line 'From: A <author@example.com>'