diff --git a/doc/Makefile b/doc/Makefile
index e49d42ca77..f63f91454c 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile
+++ b/doc/Makefile
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ help:
 	@echo "Please use \`make <target>' where <target> is one of"
 	@echo "  html          create HTML pages in html dir"
 	@echo "  pdf           create Manual.pdf in this dir"
-	@echo "  fetch         fetch HTML and PDF files from LAMMPS web site"
 	@echo "  epub          create ePUB format manual for e-book readers"
 	@echo "  mobi          convert ePUB to MOBI format manual for e-book readers (e.g. Kindle)"
 	@echo "                      (requires ebook-convert tool from calibre)"
@@ -185,13 +184,6 @@ pdf: xmlgen $(VENV) $(SPHINXCONFIG)/conf.py $(ANCHORCHECK)
 	@rm -rf latex/PDF/.[sg]*
 	@echo "Build finished. Manual.pdf is in this directory."
 
-fetch:
-	@rm -rf html_www Manual_www.pdf
-	@curl -s -o Manual_www.pdf http://lammps.sandia.gov/doc/Manual.pdf
-	@curl -s -o lammps-doc.tar.gz http://lammps.sandia.gov/tars/lammps-doc.tar.gz
-	@tar xzf lammps-doc.tar.gz
-	@rm -f lammps-doc.tar.gz
-
 anchor_check : $(ANCHORCHECK)
 	@(\
 		. $(VENV)/bin/activate ;\
diff --git a/doc/src/Build_manual.rst b/doc/src/Build_manual.rst
index 5507f34b65..e379153e6f 100644
--- a/doc/src/Build_manual.rst
+++ b/doc/src/Build_manual.rst
@@ -28,29 +28,18 @@ If you downloaded LAMMPS as a tarball from `the LAMMPS website <lws_>`_,
 the html folder and the PDF files should be included.
 
 If you downloaded LAMMPS from the public git repository, then the HTML
-and PDF files are not included.  Instead you need to create them, in one
-of two ways:
-
-a. You can "fetch" the current HTML and PDF files from the LAMMPS web
-   site.  Just type ``make fetch``.  This should download a ``html_www``
-   directory and a ``Manual_www.pdf`` file.  Note that if new LAMMPS features
-   have been added more recently than the date of your LAMMPS version, the
-   fetched documentation will include those changes (but your source code
-   will not, unless you update your local repository).
-
-b. You can build the HTML or PDF files yourself, by typing ``make html``
-   or ``make pdf`` in the ``doc`` folder.  This requires various tools
-   and files.  Some of them have to be installed (see below).  For the
-   rest the build process will attempt to download and install them into
-   a python virtual environment and local folders.
+and PDF files are not included.  You can build the HTML or PDF files yourself,
+by typing ``make html``  or ``make pdf`` in the ``doc`` folder.  This requires
+various tools and files.  Some of them have to be installed (see below).  For
+the rest the build process will attempt to download and install them into
+a python virtual environment and local folders.
 
 A current version of the manual (latest patch release, aka unstable
 branch) is is available online at:
-`https://docs.lammps.org/Manual.html
-<https://docs.lammps.org/Manual.html>`_ A version of the manual
-corresponding to the ongoing development (aka master branch) is
-available online at: `https://docs.lammps.org/
-<https://docs.lammps.org/>`_
+`https://docs.lammps.org/Manual.html <https://docs.lammps.org/Manual.html>`_.
+A version of the manual corresponding to the ongoing development (aka master branch)
+is available online at: `https://docs.lammps.org/latest/
+<https://docs.lammps.org/latest/>`_
 
 Build using GNU make
 --------------------