diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 83a5f23001..6c27eba9fb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@ git-annex (6.20170102) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     taken for --json.
   * vicfg: Include the numcopies configuation.
   * config: New command for storing configuration in the git-annex branch.
-  * annex.autocommit can be configured via git-annex config, to control
-    the default behavior in all clones of a repository.
+  * New annex.synccontent config setting, which can be set to true to make
+    git annex sync default to --content. This may become the default at
+    some point in the future. As well as being configuable by git config,
+    it can be configured by git-annex config to control the default
+    behavior in all clones of a repository.
   * stack.yaml: Update to lts-7.18.
   * Some optimisations to string splitting code.
   * unused: When large files are checked right into git, avoid buffering
diff --git a/Command/Sync.hs b/Command/Sync.hs
index e69790799b..581cad5620 100644
--- a/Command/Sync.hs
+++ b/Command/Sync.hs
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ data SyncOptions  = SyncOptions
 	, pullOption :: Bool
 	, pushOption :: Bool
 	, contentOption :: Bool
+	, noContentOption :: Bool
 	, keyOptions :: Maybe KeyOptions
 	}
 
@@ -92,8 +93,13 @@ optParser desc = SyncOptions
 	<*> invertableSwitch "push" True
 		( help "avoid git pushes to remotes" 
 		)
-	<*> invertableSwitch "content" False
-		( help "also transfer file contents" 
+	<*> switch 
+		( long "content"
+		<> help "transfer file contents" 
+		)
+	<*> switch
+		( long "no-content"
+		<> help "do not transfer file contents"
 		)
 	<*> optional parseAllOption
 
@@ -118,22 +124,24 @@ seek o = allowConcurrentOutput $ do
 		, map (withbranch . pullRemote o mergeConfig) gitremotes
 		,  [ mergeAnnex ]
 		]
-	when (contentOption o) $
-		whenM (seekSyncContent o dataremotes) $
-			-- Transferring content can take a while,
-			-- and other changes can be pushed to the git-annex
-			-- branch on the remotes in the meantime, so pull
-			-- and merge again to avoid our push overwriting
-			-- those changes.
-			mapM_ includeCommandAction $ concat
-				[ map (withbranch . pullRemote o mergeConfig) gitremotes
-				, [ commitAnnex, mergeAnnex ]
-				]
+	whenM (shouldsynccontent <&&> seekSyncContent o dataremotes) $
+		-- Transferring content can take a while,
+		-- and other changes can be pushed to the git-annex
+		-- branch on the remotes in the meantime, so pull
+		-- and merge again to avoid our push overwriting
+		-- those changes.
+		mapM_ includeCommandAction $ concat
+			[ map (withbranch . pullRemote o mergeConfig) gitremotes
+			, [ commitAnnex, mergeAnnex ]
+			]
 	
 	void $ includeCommandAction $ withbranch pushLocal
 	-- Pushes to remotes can run concurrently.
 	mapM_ (commandAction . withbranch . pushRemote o) gitremotes
-	
+  where
+	shouldsynccontent = pure (contentOption o)
+		<||> (pure (not (noContentOption o)) <&&> getGitConfigVal annexSyncContent)
+
 type CurrBranch = (Maybe Git.Branch, Maybe Adjustment)
 
 {- There may not be a branch checked out until after the commit,
diff --git a/Types/GitConfig.hs b/Types/GitConfig.hs
index b972697d78..fb25f2f26e 100644
--- a/Types/GitConfig.hs
+++ b/Types/GitConfig.hs
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ data Configurable a
 	| DefaultConfig a
 	-- ^ A default value is known, but not all config sources
 	-- have been read yet.
+	deriving (Show)
 
 {- Main git-annex settings. Each setting corresponds to a git-config key
  - such as annex.foo -}
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ data GitConfig = GitConfig
 	, annexHttpHeaders :: [String]
 	, annexHttpHeadersCommand :: Maybe String
 	, annexAutoCommit :: Configurable Bool
+	, annexSyncContent :: Configurable Bool
 	, annexDebug :: Bool
 	, annexWebOptions :: [String]
 	, annexQuviOptions :: [String]
@@ -105,6 +107,8 @@ extractGitConfig r = GitConfig
 	, annexHttpHeadersCommand = getmaybe (annex "http-headers-command")
 	, annexAutoCommit = configurable True $ 
 		getmaybebool (annex "autocommit")
+	, annexSyncContent = configurable False $ 
+		getmaybebool (annex "synccontent")
 	, annexDebug = getbool (annex "debug") False
 	, annexWebOptions = getwords (annex "web-options")
 	, annexQuviOptions = getwords (annex "quvi-options")
@@ -156,6 +160,7 @@ extractGitConfig r = GitConfig
 mergeGitConfig :: GitConfig -> GitConfig -> GitConfig
 mergeGitConfig gitconfig repoglobals = gitconfig
 	{ annexAutoCommit = merge annexAutoCommit
+	, annexSyncContent = merge annexSyncContent
 	}
   where
 	merge f = case f gitconfig of
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-config.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-config.mdwn
index a6b7eb578d..dd29055b83 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-config.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-config.mdwn
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ These settings can be overridden on a per-repository basis using
   Set to false to prevent the git-annex assistant and git-annex sync
   from automatically committing changes to files in the repository.
 
+* `annex.synccontent`
+
+  Set to true to make git-annex sync default to syncing content.
+
 # EXAMPLE
 
 Suppose you want to prevent git annex sync from committing changes
@@ -40,7 +44,12 @@ repository. Then run:
 
 	git annex config --set annex.autocommit false
 
-If you change your mind, you can get back to the default behavior:
+If you want to override that in a partiticular clone, just use git config
+in the clone:
+
+	git config annex.autocommit true
+
+And to get back to the default behavior:
 
 	git annex config --unset annex.autocommit
 
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-sync.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-sync.mdwn
index f0dce81143..e29698c4b8 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-sync.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-sync.mdwn
@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ by running "git annex sync" on the remote.
 
   Normally, syncing does not transfer the contents of annexed files.
   The --content option causes the content of files in the work tree
-  to also be uploaded and downloaded as necessary.  
+  to also be uploaded and downloaded as necessary.
+
+  The annex.synccontent configuration can be set to true to make content
+  be synced by default.
 
   Normally this tries to get each annexed file in the work tree
   that the local repository  does not yet have, and then copies each
diff --git a/doc/git-annex.mdwn b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
index 2763de22da..63f58d9e49 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
@@ -1009,6 +1009,13 @@ Here are all the supported configuration settings.
   To configure the behavior in all clones of the repository,
   this can be set in [[git-annex-config]].
 
+* `annex.synccontent`
+
+  Set to true to make git-annex sync default to syncing content.
+
+  To configure the behavior in all clones of the repository,
+  this can be set in [[git-annex-config]].
+
 * `annex.startupscan`
 
   Set to false to prevent the git-annex assistant from scanning the