diff --git a/spec/workspace-spec.coffee b/spec/workspace-spec.coffee
index bb4ac1532..534f2bf61 100644
--- a/spec/workspace-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/workspace-spec.coffee
@@ -1533,10 +1533,10 @@ describe "Workspace", ->
       atom.workspace.closeActivePaneItemOrEmptyPaneOrWindow()
       expect(atom.close).toHaveBeenCalled()
 
-  describe "when the core.openPendingPaneItems option is falsey", ->
+  describe "when the core.allowPendingPaneItems option is falsey", ->
     it "does not open item with `pending: true` option as pending", ->
       editor = null
-      atom.config.set('core.openPendingPaneItems', false)
+      atom.config.set('core.allowPendingPaneItems', false)
 
       waitsForPromise ->
         atom.workspace.open('sample.js', pending: true).then (o) -> editor = o
diff --git a/src/config-schema.coffee b/src/config-schema.coffee
index 36c5fc5ba..346551ff5 100644
--- a/src/config-schema.coffee
+++ b/src/config-schema.coffee
@@ -108,8 +108,8 @@ module.exports =
         description: 'Automatically update Atom when a new release is available.'
         type: 'boolean'
         default: true
-      openPendingPaneItems:
-        description: 'Open pane items in pending state, such that only one pending item is open per pane.'
+      allowPendingPaneItems:
+        description: 'Allow items to be previewed without adding them to a pane permanently, such as when single clicking files in the tree view.'
         type: 'boolean'
         default: true
 
diff --git a/src/workspace.coffee b/src/workspace.coffee
index 4ed620481..b26383786 100644
--- a/src/workspace.coffee
+++ b/src/workspace.coffee
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ class Workspace extends Model
     split = options.split
     uri = @project.resolvePath(uri)
 
-    if not atom.config.get('core.openPendingPaneItems')
+    if not atom.config.get('core.allowPendingPaneItems')
       options.pending = false
 
     # Avoid adding URLs as recent documents to work-around this Spotlight crash: