diff --git a/doc-src/content/help/tutorials/extensions.markdown b/doc-src/content/help/tutorials/extensions.markdown
index 99e6d24d..11d24a66 100644
--- a/doc-src/content/help/tutorials/extensions.markdown
+++ b/doc-src/content/help/tutorials/extensions.markdown
@@ -174,10 +174,13 @@ You may also see some real manifest files here:
 
 ### Manifest Declarations
 
+
 **Easy Mode:** If you just have some basic files and nothing fancy going on, simply place this line in your manifest:
 
     discover :all
 
+If the file is missing `discover :all` is the default
+
 This will cause compass to find all the files in your template and use the files' extension to determine where they should go. Alternatively, you can request that compass only discover files of a certain type. For example, the following will only discover javascript and image assets, you could then declare other file types on your own.
 
     discover :javascripts
diff --git a/lib/compass/installers/manifest.rb b/lib/compass/installers/manifest.rb
index b5faf022..848b5a5d 100644
--- a/lib/compass/installers/manifest.rb
+++ b/lib/compass/installers/manifest.rb
@@ -141,11 +141,16 @@ module Compass
       # evaluated in a Manifest instance context
       def parse(manifest_file)
         with_manifest(manifest_file) do
-          open(manifest_file) do |f|
-            eval(f.read, instance_binding, manifest_file)
-          end
-        end
-      end
+          if File.exists?(manifest_file)
+            open(manifest_file) do |f| 
+              eval(f.read, instance_binding, manifest_file)
+            end 
+          else
+              eval("discover :all", instance_binding, manifest_file)
+          end 
+        end 
+      end 
+
 
       def instance_binding
         binding