diff --git a/go/libraries/doltcore/doltdb/system_table.go b/go/libraries/doltcore/doltdb/system_table.go
index 336f0ec4ce..833db9ec75 100644
--- a/go/libraries/doltcore/doltdb/system_table.go
+++ b/go/libraries/doltcore/doltdb/system_table.go
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/dolthub/dolt/go/libraries/doltcore/schema/typeinfo"
+
 	"github.com/dolthub/dolt/go/libraries/doltcore/schema"
 	"github.com/dolthub/dolt/go/libraries/utils/funcitr"
 	"github.com/dolthub/dolt/go/libraries/utils/set"
@@ -33,6 +35,25 @@ const (
 
 var ErrSystemTableCannotBeModified = errors.New("system tables cannot be dropped or altered")
 
+var OldDocsSchema = schema.MustSchemaFromCols(schema.NewColCollection(
+	schema.NewColumn(DocPkColumnName, schema.DocNameTag, types.StringKind, true, schema.NotNullConstraint{}),
+	schema.NewColumn(DocTextColumnName, schema.DocTextTag, types.StringKind, false),
+))
+
+var DocsSchema schema.Schema
+
+func init() {
+	docTextCol, err := schema.NewColumnWithTypeInfo(DocTextColumnName, schema.DocTextTag, typeinfo.LongTextType, false, "", false, "")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	doltDocsColumns := schema.NewColCollection(
+		schema.NewColumn(DocPkColumnName, schema.DocNameTag, types.StringKind, true, schema.NotNullConstraint{}),
+		docTextCol,
+	)
+	DocsSchema = schema.MustSchemaFromCols(doltDocsColumns)
+}
+
 // HasDoltPrefix returns a boolean whether or not the provided string is prefixed with the DoltNamespace. Users should
 // not be able to create tables in this reserved namespace.
 func HasDoltPrefix(s string) bool {
@@ -162,16 +183,10 @@ const (
 	ReadmeDoc = "README.md"
 )
 
-var doltDocsColumns = schema.NewColCollection(
-	schema.NewColumn(DocPkColumnName, schema.DocNameTag, types.StringKind, true, schema.NotNullConstraint{}),
-	schema.NewColumn(DocTextColumnName, schema.DocTextTag, types.StringKind, false),
-)
-var DocsSchema = schema.MustSchemaFromCols(doltDocsColumns)
-
 var DocsMaybeCreateTableStmt = `
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS dolt_docs (
   doc_name varchar(16383) NOT NULL,
-  doc_text varchar(16383),
+  doc_text longtext,
   PRIMARY KEY (doc_name)
 );`
 
diff --git a/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/database.go b/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/database.go
index 313e28ca06..4963305021 100644
--- a/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/database.go
+++ b/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/database.go
@@ -851,7 +851,7 @@ func (db Database) CreateTable(ctx *sql.Context, tableName string, sch sql.Prima
 	}
 	if strings.ToLower(tableName) == doltdb.DocTableName {
 		// validate correct schema
-		if !dtables.DoltDocsSqlSchema.Equals(sch.Schema) {
+		if !dtables.DoltDocsSqlSchema.Equals(sch.Schema) && !dtables.OldDoltDocsSqlSchema.Equals(sch.Schema) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("incorrect schema for dolt_docs table")
 		}
 	} else if doltdb.HasDoltPrefix(tableName) {
@@ -872,7 +872,7 @@ func (db Database) CreateIndexedTable(ctx *sql.Context, tableName string, sch sq
 	}
 	if strings.ToLower(tableName) == doltdb.DocTableName {
 		// validate correct schema
-		if !dtables.DoltDocsSqlSchema.Equals(sch.Schema) {
+		if !dtables.DoltDocsSqlSchema.Equals(sch.Schema) && !dtables.OldDoltDocsSqlSchema.Equals(sch.Schema) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("incorrect schema for dolt_docs table")
 		}
 	} else if doltdb.HasDoltPrefix(tableName) {
diff --git a/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/dtables/docs_table.go b/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/dtables/docs_table.go
index 5a237b5d33..0d23509b70 100644
--- a/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/dtables/docs_table.go
+++ b/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/dtables/docs_table.go
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 var DoltDocsSqlSchema sql.PrimaryKeySchema
+var OldDoltDocsSqlSchema sql.PrimaryKeySchema
 
 func init() {
 	DoltDocsSqlSchema, _ = sqlutil.FromDoltSchema(doltdb.DocTableName, doltdb.DocsSchema)
+	OldDoltDocsSqlSchema, _ = sqlutil.FromDoltSchema(doltdb.DocTableName, doltdb.OldDocsSchema)
 }
diff --git a/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/sqlselect_test.go b/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/sqlselect_test.go
index 71ed5fc9d7..0bee758c27 100644
--- a/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/sqlselect_test.go
+++ b/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/sqlselect_test.go
@@ -1292,9 +1292,8 @@ var systemTableSelectTests = []SelectTest{
 		Name: "select from dolt_docs",
 		AdditionalSetup: CreateTableFn("dolt_docs", doltdb.DocsSchema,
 			"INSERT INTO dolt_docs VALUES ('LICENSE.md','A license')"),
-		Query: "select * from dolt_docs",
-		ExpectedRows: ToSqlRows(CompressSchema(doltdb.DocsSchema),
-			NewRow(types.String("LICENSE.md"), types.String("A license"))),
+		Query:          "select * from dolt_docs",
+		ExpectedRows:   []sql.Row{{"LICENSE.md", "A license"}},
 		ExpectedSchema: CompressSchema(doltdb.DocsSchema),
 	},
 	{
diff --git a/integration-tests/bats/docs.bats b/integration-tests/bats/docs.bats
index 17d6bd0dca..6f3b836fc6 100644
--- a/integration-tests/bats/docs.bats
+++ b/integration-tests/bats/docs.bats
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ teardown() {
     dolt sql <<SQL
 CREATE TABLE dolt_docs (
   doc_name varchar(16383) NOT NULL,
-  doc_text varchar(16383),
+  doc_text longtext,
   PRIMARY KEY (doc_name)
 );
 SQL