diff --git a/manual/conf.py b/manual/conf.py
index 4c215385..fdfffe7f 100644
--- a/manual/conf.py
+++ b/manual/conf.py
@@ -1,55 +1,14 @@
 # Configuration file for the Sphinx documentation builder.
 #
-# This file only contains a selection of the most common options. For a full
-# list see the documentation:
+# This file only contains a selection of the most common options. For
+# a full list see the documentation:
 # https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/configuration.html
-
-# -- Path setup --------------------------------------------------------------
-
-# If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in another directory,
-# add these directories to sys.path here. If the directory is relative to the
-# documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it absolute, like shown here.
 #
-# import os
-# import sys
-# sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('.'))
-
-
-# -- Project information -----------------------------------------------------
+# To see the default sample conf.py, run sphinx-quickstart in an empty
+# directory. Most of the original comments and options were removed.
 
 project = 'QPDF'
-copyright = '2021, Jay Berkenbilt'
+copyright = '2005-2021, Jay Berkenbilt'
 author = 'Jay Berkenbilt'
-
-# The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags
 release = '10.4.0'
-
-
-# -- General configuration ---------------------------------------------------
-
-# Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be
-# extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom
-# ones.
-extensions = [
-]
-
-# Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
-templates_path = ['_templates']
-
-# List of patterns, relative to source directory, that match files and
-# directories to ignore when looking for source files.
-# This pattern also affects html_static_path and html_extra_path.
-exclude_patterns = []
-
-
-# -- Options for HTML output -------------------------------------------------
-
-# The theme to use for HTML and HTML Help pages.  See the documentation for
-# a list of builtin themes.
-#
 html_theme = 'alabaster'
-
-# Add any paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets) here,
-# relative to this directory. They are copied after the builtin static files,
-# so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
-html_static_path = ['_static']
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/manual/index.rst b/manual/index.rst
index daccf155..95e00f20 100644
--- a/manual/index.rst
+++ b/manual/index.rst
@@ -1,17 +1,11 @@
-.. QPDF documentation master file, created by
-   sphinx-quickstart on Sat Dec 11 16:34:52 2021.
-   You can adapt this file completely to your liking, but it should at least
-   contain the root `toctree` directive.
 
-Welcome to QPDF's documentation!
-================================
+QPDF version |release|
+======================
 
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 2
    :caption: Contents:
 
-
-
 Indices and tables
 ==================