diff --git a/notmuch-insert.c b/notmuch-insert.c
index cc5aeefc..865b6b69 100644
--- a/notmuch-insert.c
+++ b/notmuch-insert.c
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ notmuch_insert_command (unused(notmuch_config_t *config), notmuch_database_t *no
 {
     notmuch_status_t status, close_status;
     struct sigaction action;
-    const char *db_path;
+    const char *mail_root;
     notmuch_config_values_t *new_tags = NULL;
     tag_op_list_t *tag_ops;
     char *query_string = NULL;
@@ -481,13 +481,7 @@ notmuch_insert_command (unused(notmuch_config_t *config), notmuch_database_t *no
 
     notmuch_process_shared_options (argv[0]);
 
-
-    db_path = notmuch_config_get (notmuch, NOTMUCH_CONFIG_DATABASE_PATH);
-
-    if (! db_path)
-	INTERNAL_ERROR ("Unable to retrieve database path");
-    else
-	db_path = talloc_strdup (local, db_path);
+    mail_root = notmuch_config_get (notmuch, NOTMUCH_CONFIG_MAIL_ROOT);
 
     new_tags = notmuch_config_get_values (notmuch, NOTMUCH_CONFIG_NEW_TAGS);
 
@@ -533,7 +527,7 @@ notmuch_insert_command (unused(notmuch_config_t *config), notmuch_database_t *no
 	return EXIT_FAILURE;
     }
 
-    maildir = talloc_asprintf (local, "%s/%s", db_path, folder);
+    maildir = talloc_asprintf (local, "%s/%s", mail_root, folder);
     if (! maildir) {
 	fprintf (stderr, "Out of memory\n");
 	return EXIT_FAILURE;
diff --git a/test/T055-path-config.sh b/test/T055-path-config.sh
index f9a8e200..fb5174ac 100755
--- a/test/T055-path-config.sh
+++ b/test/T055-path-config.sh
@@ -167,6 +167,16 @@ On Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:43:56 -0000, Sender <sender@example.com> wrote:
 > basic reply test
 EOF
     test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
+    test_begin_subtest "insert+search ($config)"
+    generate_message \
+	"[subject]=\"insert-subject\"" \
+	"[date]=\"Sat, 01 Jan 2000 12:00:00 -0000\"" \
+	"[body]=\"insert-message\""
+    mkdir -p "$MAIL_DIR"/{cur,new,tmp}
+    notmuch insert < "$gen_msg_filename"
+    cur_msg_filename=$(notmuch search --output=files "subject:insert-subject")
+    test_expect_equal_file "$cur_msg_filename" "$gen_msg_filename"
+
     restore_config
 done