diff --git a/doc/geany.html b/doc/geany.html
index 31a37934..8394e499 100644
--- a/doc/geany.html
+++ b/doc/geany.html
@@ -4726,8 +4726,10 @@ tab.</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
 </table>
-<p>statusbar_template default (where <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">\t</span></tt> = tab):</p>
+<p>By default, statusbar_template is empty. This tells Geany to use its
+internal default, which is currently:</p>
 <p><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">line:</span> <span class="pre">%l</span> <span class="pre">/</span> <span class="pre">%L\t</span> <span class="pre">col:</span> <span class="pre">%c\t</span> <span class="pre">sel:</span> <span class="pre">%s\t</span> <span class="pre">%w</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="pre">%t</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="pre">%mmode:</span> <span class="pre">%M</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="pre">encoding:</span> <span class="pre">%e</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="pre">filetype:</span> <span class="pre">%f</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="pre">scope:</span> <span class="pre">%S</span></tt></p>
+<p>Note that <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">\t</span></tt> = tab.</p>
 <table border="1" class="docutils">
 <colgroup>
 <col width="34%" />
@@ -6135,7 +6137,7 @@ USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.</p>
 <div class="footer">
 <hr class="footer" />
 <a class="reference" href="geany.txt">View document source</a>.
-Generated on: 2010-07-06 14:14 UTC.
+Generated on: 2010-07-08 11:31 UTC.
 Generated by <a class="reference" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/">Docutils</a> from <a class="reference" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">reStructuredText</a> source.
 
 </div>
diff --git a/doc/geany.txt b/doc/geany.txt
index 926e7155..3c72b026 100644
--- a/doc/geany.txt
+++ b/doc/geany.txt
@@ -4065,10 +4065,13 @@ statusbar_template                The status bar statistics line format.       S
                                   (Search in src/ui_utils.c for details).
 ================================  ===========================================  ==================
 
-statusbar_template default (where ``\t`` = tab):
+By default, statusbar_template is empty. This tells Geany to use its
+internal default, which is currently:
 
 ``line: %l / %L\t col: %c\t sel: %s\t %w      %t      %mmode: %M      encoding: %e      filetype: %f      scope: %S``
 
+Note that ``\t`` = tab.
+
 ================================  ===========================================  ==================
 Key                               Description                                  Default
 ================================  ===========================================  ==================
diff --git a/src/ui_utils.c b/src/ui_utils.c
index 38819aba..52a92807 100644
--- a/src/ui_utils.c
+++ b/src/ui_utils.c
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ static void add_statusbar_statistics(GString *stats_str,
 	const gchar *expos;	/* % expansion position */
 	const gchar sp[] = "      ";
 
-	fmt = statusbar_template ? statusbar_template :
+	fmt = NZV(statusbar_template) ? statusbar_template :
 		/* Status bar statistics: col = column, sel = selection. */
 		_("line: %l / %L\t col: %c\t sel: %s\t %w      %t      %m"
 		"mode: %M      encoding: %e      filetype: %f      scope: %S");
@@ -2000,7 +2000,14 @@ static void on_load_settings(GObject *obj, GKeyFile *config)
 	g_assert(statusbar_template == NULL);
 
 	statusbar_template = utils_get_setting_string(config,
-		PACKAGE, "statusbar_template", NULL);
+		PACKAGE, "statusbar_template", "");
+}
+
+
+static void on_save_settings(GObject *obj, GKeyFile *config)
+{
+	if (!g_key_file_has_key(config, PACKAGE, "statusbar_template", NULL))
+		g_key_file_set_string(config, PACKAGE, "statusbar_template", statusbar_template);
 }
 
 
@@ -2009,6 +2016,7 @@ void ui_init(void)
 	GtkWidget *item;
 
 	g_signal_connect(geany_object, "load-settings", G_CALLBACK(on_load_settings), NULL);
+	g_signal_connect(geany_object, "save-settings", G_CALLBACK(on_save_settings), NULL);
 
 	init_recent_files();