diff --git a/Annex/Link.hs b/Annex/Link.hs
index d7353d7889..5b840bf730 100644
--- a/Annex/Link.hs
+++ b/Annex/Link.hs
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import Utility.FileMode
 import Utility.InodeCache
 import Utility.Tmp.Dir
 import Utility.CopyFile
+import qualified Database.Keys.Handle
 import qualified Utility.RawFilePath as R
 
 import qualified Data.ByteString as S
@@ -202,6 +203,8 @@ restagePointerFile (Restage True) f orig = withTSDelta $ \tsd ->
 	-- updated index file.
 	runner :: Git.Queue.InternalActionRunner Annex
 	runner = Git.Queue.InternalActionRunner "restagePointerFile" $ \r l -> do
+		liftIO . Database.Keys.Handle.flushDbQueue
+			=<< Annex.getState Annex.keysdbhandle
 		realindex <- liftIO $ Git.Index.currentIndexFile r
 		let lock = fromRawFilePath (Git.Index.indexFileLock realindex)
 		    lockindex = liftIO $ catchMaybeIO $ Git.LockFile.openLock' lock
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index ef2a84fc78..b91d85abe2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ git-annex (8.20201130) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Fix a bug that prevented git-annex init from working in a submodule.
   * Fix a bug in view filename generation when a metadata value ended with
     "/" (or ":" or "\" on Windows)
+  * adjust: Fix some bad behavior when unlocked files use URL keys.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Mon, 04 Jan 2021 12:52:41 -0400
 
diff --git a/Command/Smudge.hs b/Command/Smudge.hs
index ebf041018a..6286879634 100644
--- a/Command/Smudge.hs
+++ b/Command/Smudge.hs
@@ -255,8 +255,9 @@ updateSmudged restage = streamSmudged $ \k topf -> do
 	f <- fromRepo (fromTopFilePath topf)
 	whenM (inAnnex k) $ do
 		obj <- calcRepo (gitAnnexLocation k)
-		unlessM (isJust <$> populatePointerFile restage k obj f) $
-			liftIO (isPointerFile f) >>= \case
+		populatePointerFile restage k obj f >>= \case
+			Just ic -> Database.Keys.addInodeCaches k [ic]
+			Nothing -> liftIO (isPointerFile f) >>= \case
 				Just k' | k' == k -> toplevelWarning False $
 					"unable to populate worktree file " ++ fromRawFilePath f
 				_ -> noop