diff --git a/app/components/PaginatedDocumentList.js b/app/components/PaginatedDocumentList.js
index e5f9ea3d2..39e63694f 100644
--- a/app/components/PaginatedDocumentList.js
+++ b/app/components/PaginatedDocumentList.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ type Props = {
   documents: Document[],
   fetch: (options: ?Object) => Promise<*>,
   options?: Object,
+  empty?: React.Node,
 };
 
 @observer
@@ -65,15 +66,19 @@ class PaginatedDocumentList extends React.Component<Props> {
   };
 
   render() {
-    const { showCollection, showPublished, documents } = this.props;
+    const { showCollection, showPublished, empty, documents } = this.props;
 
     return this.isLoaded || documents.length ? (
       <React.Fragment>
-        <DocumentList
-          documents={documents}
-          showCollection={showCollection}
-          showPublished={showPublished}
-        />
+        {documents.length ? (
+          <DocumentList
+            documents={documents}
+            showCollection={showCollection}
+            showPublished={showPublished}
+          />
+        ) : (
+          empty
+        )}
         {this.allowLoadMore && (
           <Waypoint key={this.offset} onEnter={this.loadMoreResults} />
         )}
diff --git a/app/scenes/UserProfile.js b/app/scenes/UserProfile.js
index 8e70936f4..4600f84fc 100644
--- a/app/scenes/UserProfile.js
+++ b/app/scenes/UserProfile.js
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ class UserProfile extends React.Component<Props> {
             documents={documents.createdByUser(user.id)}
             fetch={documents.fetchOwned}
             options={{ user: user.id }}
+            empty={
+              <HelpText>{user.name} hasn’t updated any documents yet.</HelpText>
+            }
             showCollection
           />
         </Flex>