diff --git a/CmdLine.hs b/CmdLine.hs
index d9a4103696..8cf4d0544d 100644
--- a/CmdLine.hs
+++ b/CmdLine.hs
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import Annex.Content
 import Annex.Ssh
 import Annex.Environment
 import Command
+import Types.Messages
 
 type Params = [String]
 type Flags = [Annex ()]
@@ -47,6 +48,8 @@ dispatch fuzzyok allargs allcmds commonoptions fields header getgitrepo = do
 				checkEnvironment
 				checkfuzzy
 				forM_ fields $ uncurry Annex.setField
+				when (cmdnomessages cmd) $ 
+					Annex.setOutput QuietOutput
 				sequence_ flags
 				whenM (annexDebug <$> Annex.getGitConfig) $
 					liftIO enableDebugOutput
diff --git a/Command.hs b/Command.hs
index 8083e0d7c5..fec733f724 100644
--- a/Command.hs
+++ b/Command.hs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ module Command (
 	command,
 	noRepo,
 	noCommit,
+	noMessages,
 	withOptions,
 	next,
 	stop,
@@ -40,13 +41,18 @@ import Annex.CheckAttr
 
 {- Generates a normal command -}
 command :: String -> String -> [CommandSeek] -> CommandSection -> String -> Command
-command = Command [] Nothing commonChecks False
+command = Command [] Nothing commonChecks False False
 
 {- Indicates that a command doesn't need to commit any changes to
  - the git-annex branch. -}
 noCommit :: Command -> Command
 noCommit c = c { cmdnocommit = True }
 
+{- Indicates that a command should not output anything other than what
+ - it directly sends to stdout. (--json can override this). -}
+noMessages :: Command -> Command
+noMessages c = c { cmdnomessages = True }
+
 {- Adds a fallback action to a command, that will be run if it's used
  - outside a git repository. -}
 noRepo :: IO () -> Command -> Command
diff --git a/Command/Find.hs b/Command/Find.hs
index a326b26340..4b8c7ce0e9 100644
--- a/Command/Find.hs
+++ b/Command/Find.hs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import Types.Key
 import qualified Option
 
 def :: [Command]
-def = [noCommit $ withOptions [formatOption, print0Option] $
+def = [noCommit $ noMessages $ withOptions [formatOption, print0Option] $
 	command "find" paramPaths seek SectionQuery "lists available files"]
 
 formatOption :: Option
diff --git a/Types/Command.hs b/Types/Command.hs
index 4b92ca1738..3187efd171 100644
--- a/Types/Command.hs
+++ b/Types/Command.hs
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ data Command = Command
 	, cmdnorepo :: Maybe (IO ()) -- an action to run when not in a repo
 	, cmdcheck :: [CommandCheck] -- check stage
 	, cmdnocommit :: Bool        -- don't commit journalled state changes
+	, cmdnomessages :: Bool      -- don't output normal messages
 	, cmdname :: String
 	, cmdparamdesc :: String     -- description of params for usage
 	, cmdseek :: [CommandSeek]   -- seek stage
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 499f09a104..ec8a748e63 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ git-annex (4.20130724) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
   * Improve test suite on Windows; now tests git annex sync.
   * Fix a few bugs involving filenames that are at or near the filesystem's
     maximum filename length limit.
+  * find: Avoid polluting stdout with progress messages. Closes: #718186
 
  -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Tue, 23 Jul 2013 12:39:48 -0400