diff --git a/src/Buffer.cpp b/src/Buffer.cpp
index 67d4b3dc38..df3ae9fb35 100644
--- a/src/Buffer.cpp
+++ b/src/Buffer.cpp
@@ -1891,6 +1891,10 @@ void Buffer::writeLaTeXSource(otexstream & os,
 		os.texrow().start(TexRow::beginDocument());
 		os << "\\begin{document}\n";
 
+		// mark the start of a new paragraph by simulating a newline,
+		// so that os.afterParbreak() returns true at document start
+		os.lastChar('\n');
+
 		// output the parent macros
 		MacroSet::iterator it = parentMacros.begin();
 		MacroSet::iterator end = parentMacros.end();