diff --git a/doc/src/fix_balance.rst b/doc/src/fix_balance.rst
index 83be726ba7..0a0ea64c6a 100644
--- a/doc/src/fix_balance.rst
+++ b/doc/src/fix_balance.rst
@@ -14,15 +14,15 @@ Syntax
 * balance = style name of this fix command
 * Nfreq = perform dynamic load balancing every this many steps
 * thresh = imbalance threshold that must be exceeded to perform a re-balance
-* style = *shift* *shift/report* or *rcb* or *rcb/report*
-
+* style = *shift* or *rcb* or *report*
   .. parsed-literal::
 
-       *shift* or *shift/report* args = dimstr Niter stopthresh
+       *shift* args = dimstr Niter stopthresh
          dimstr = sequence of letters containing *x* or *y* or *z*, each not more than once
          Niter = # of times to iterate within each dimension of dimstr sequence
          stopthresh = stop balancing when this imbalance threshold is reached
-       *rcb* or *rcb/report* args = none
+       *rcb* args = none
+       *report* args = none
 
 * zero or more keyword/arg pairs may be appended
 * keyword = *weight* or *out*
@@ -72,10 +72,10 @@ perform "static" balancing, before or between runs, see the
 
 .. versionadded:: TBD
 
-The *shift/report* and *rcb/report* styles only compute the
-load imbalance but do not attempt any re-balancing.  This way
-the load imbalance information can be used otherwise, for
-instance for stopping a run with :doc:`fix halt <fix_halt>`.
+The *report* balance style only computes the load imbalance but
+does not attempt any re-balancing.  This way the load imbalance
+information can be used otherwise, for instance for stopping a
+run with :doc:`fix halt <fix_halt>`.
 
 Load-balancing is typically most useful if the particles in the
 simulation box have a spatially-varying density distribution or
diff --git a/src/fix_balance.cpp b/src/fix_balance.cpp
index ae1d00db8f..2a32e96106 100644
--- a/src/fix_balance.cpp
+++ b/src/fix_balance.cpp
@@ -64,26 +64,34 @@ FixBalance::FixBalance(LAMMPS *lmp, int narg, char **arg) :
   reportonly = 0;
   if (strcmp(arg[5],"shift") == 0) {
     lbstyle = SHIFT;
-  } else if (strcmp(arg[5],"shift/report") == 0) {
-    lbstyle = SHIFT;
-    reportonly = 1;
   } else if (strcmp(arg[5],"rcb") == 0) {
     lbstyle = BISECTION;
-  } else if (strcmp(arg[5],"rcb/report") == 0) {
-    lbstyle = BISECTION;
+  } else if (strcmp(arg[5],"report") == 0) {
+    lbstyle = SHIFT;
     reportonly = 1;
   } else error->all(FLERR,"Unknown fix balance style {}", arg[5]);
 
   int iarg = 5;
   if (lbstyle == SHIFT) {
-    if (iarg+4 > narg) utils::missing_cmd_args(FLERR, "fix balance shift", error);
-    bstr = arg[iarg+1];
-    if (bstr.size() > Balance::BSTR_SIZE) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal fix balance shift command");
-    nitermax = utils::inumeric(FLERR,arg[iarg+2],false,lmp);
-    if (nitermax <= 0) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal fix balance command");
-    stopthresh = utils::numeric(FLERR,arg[iarg+3],false,lmp);
-    if (stopthresh < 1.0) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal fix balance command");
-    iarg += 4;
+    if (reportonly) {
+      if (dimension == 2)
+        bstr = "xy";
+      else
+        bstr = "xyz";
+      nitermax = 5;
+      stopthresh = 1.1;
+      iarg++;
+    } else {
+      if (iarg+4 > narg) utils::missing_cmd_args(FLERR, "fix balance shift", error);
+      bstr = arg[iarg+1];
+      if (bstr.size() > Balance::BSTR_SIZE) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal fix balance shift command");
+      nitermax = utils::inumeric(FLERR,arg[iarg+2],false,lmp);
+      if (nitermax <= 0) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal fix balance command");
+      stopthresh = utils::numeric(FLERR,arg[iarg+3],false,lmp);
+      if (stopthresh < 1.0) error->all(FLERR,"Illegal fix balance command");
+      iarg += 4;
+    }
+
   } else if (lbstyle == BISECTION) {
     iarg++;
   }