diff --git a/Help/prop_tgt/MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT.rst b/Help/prop_tgt/MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT.rst
index 0c7845ce4a..7e08b483c4 100644
--- a/Help/prop_tgt/MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT.rst
+++ b/Help/prop_tgt/MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT.rst
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ support per-configuration specification.  For example, the code:
 selects for the target ``foo`` the program database debug information format
 for the Debug configuration.
 
+This property is initialized from the value of the
+:variable:`CMAKE_MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT` variable, if it is set.
 If this property is not set, CMake selects a debug information format using
 the default value ``$<$<CONFIG:Debug,RelWithDebInfo>:ProgramDatabase>``, if
 supported by the compiler, and otherwise