diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ac0f60eb8..57a895e07 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ Certbot adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
 
 * Certbot and its acme module now depend on josepy>=1.1.0 to avoid printing the
   warnings described at https://github.com/certbot/josepy/issues/13.
+* Apache plugin now respects CERTBOT_DOCS environment variable when adding
+  command line defaults.
 
 ### Fixed
 
@@ -23,6 +25,7 @@ package with changes other than its version number was:
 
 * acme
 * certbot
+* certbot-apache
 
 More details about these changes can be found on our GitHub repo.
 
diff --git a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/configurator.py b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/configurator.py
index efd766e63..f7f4ff925 100644
--- a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/configurator.py
+++ b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/configurator.py
@@ -92,6 +92,11 @@ class ApacheConfigurator(augeas_configurator.AugeasConfigurator):
     """
 
     description = "Apache Web Server plugin"
+    if os.environ.get("CERTBOT_DOCS") == "1":
+        description += (  # pragma: no cover
+            " (Please note that the default values of the Apache plugin options"
+            " change depending on the operating system Certbot is run on.)"
+        )
 
     OS_DEFAULTS = dict(
         server_root="/etc/apache2",
@@ -141,28 +146,36 @@ class ApacheConfigurator(augeas_configurator.AugeasConfigurator):
         # When adding, modifying or deleting command line arguments, be sure to
         # include the changes in the list used in method _prepare_options() to
         # ensure consistent behavior.
-        add("enmod", default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["enmod"],
+
+        # Respect CERTBOT_DOCS environment variable and use default values from
+        # base class regardless of the underlying distribution (overrides).
+        if os.environ.get("CERTBOT_DOCS") == "1":
+            DEFAULTS = ApacheConfigurator.OS_DEFAULTS
+        else:
+            # cls.OS_DEFAULTS can be distribution specific, see override classes
+            DEFAULTS = cls.OS_DEFAULTS
+        add("enmod", default=DEFAULTS["enmod"],
             help="Path to the Apache 'a2enmod' binary")
-        add("dismod", default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["dismod"],
+        add("dismod", default=DEFAULTS["dismod"],
             help="Path to the Apache 'a2dismod' binary")
-        add("le-vhost-ext", default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["le_vhost_ext"],
+        add("le-vhost-ext", default=DEFAULTS["le_vhost_ext"],
             help="SSL vhost configuration extension")
-        add("server-root", default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["server_root"],
+        add("server-root", default=DEFAULTS["server_root"],
             help="Apache server root directory")
         add("vhost-root", default=None,
             help="Apache server VirtualHost configuration root")
-        add("logs-root", default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["logs_root"],
+        add("logs-root", default=DEFAULTS["logs_root"],
             help="Apache server logs directory")
         add("challenge-location",
-            default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["challenge_location"],
+            default=DEFAULTS["challenge_location"],
             help="Directory path for challenge configuration")
-        add("handle-modules", default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["handle_modules"],
+        add("handle-modules", default=DEFAULTS["handle_modules"],
             help="Let installer handle enabling required modules for you " +
                  "(Only Ubuntu/Debian currently)")
-        add("handle-sites", default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["handle_sites"],
+        add("handle-sites", default=DEFAULTS["handle_sites"],
             help="Let installer handle enabling sites for you " +
                  "(Only Ubuntu/Debian currently)")
-        add("ctl", default=cls.OS_DEFAULTS["ctl"],
+        add("ctl", default=DEFAULTS["ctl"],
             help="Full path to Apache control script")
         util.add_deprecated_argument(
             add, argument_name="init-script", nargs=1)
diff --git a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/tests/configurator_test.py b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/tests/configurator_test.py
index ff93682b6..7c281d707 100644
--- a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/tests/configurator_test.py
+++ b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/tests/configurator_test.py
@@ -115,6 +115,37 @@ class MultipleVhostsTest(util.ApacheTest):
         # Weak test..
         ApacheConfigurator.add_parser_arguments(mock.MagicMock())
 
+    def test_docs_parser_arguments(self):
+        os.environ["CERTBOT_DOCS"] = "1"
+        from certbot_apache.configurator import ApacheConfigurator
+        mock_add = mock.MagicMock()
+        ApacheConfigurator.add_parser_arguments(mock_add)
+        parserargs = ["server_root", "enmod", "dismod", "le_vhost_ext",
+                      "vhost_root", "logs_root", "challenge_location",
+                      "handle_modules", "handle_sites", "ctl"]
+        exp = dict()
+
+        for k in ApacheConfigurator.OS_DEFAULTS:
+            if k in parserargs:
+                exp[k.replace("_", "-")] = ApacheConfigurator.OS_DEFAULTS[k]
+        # Special cases
+        exp["vhost-root"] = None
+        exp["init-script"] = None
+
+        found = set()
+        for call in mock_add.call_args_list:
+            # init-script is a special case: deprecated argument
+            if call[0][0] != "init-script":
+                self.assertEqual(exp[call[0][0]], call[1]['default'])
+            found.add(call[0][0])
+
+        # Make sure that all (and only) the expected values exist
+        self.assertEqual(len(mock_add.call_args_list), len(found))
+        for e in exp:
+            self.assertTrue(e in found)
+
+        del os.environ["CERTBOT_DOCS"]
+
     def test_add_parser_arguments_all_configurators(self):  # pylint: disable=no-self-use
         from certbot_apache.entrypoint import OVERRIDE_CLASSES
         for cls in OVERRIDE_CLASSES.values():