diff --git a/docs/how-to/backup-your-databases.md b/docs/how-to/backup-your-databases.md
index 8733c90ee..d3439f233 100644
--- a/docs/how-to/backup-your-databases.md
+++ b/docs/how-to/backup-your-databases.md
@@ -74,6 +74,17 @@ hooks:
 Note that you may need to use a `username` of the `postgres` superuser for
 this to work with PostgreSQL.
 
+If you would like to only backup databases and not source directories, you can
+specify an empty `source_directories` field because it is a mandatory field.
+
+```yaml
+location:
+    source_directories: []
+hooks:
+    mysql_databases:
+        - name: all
+```
+
 
 ### Configuration backups