diff --git a/services/document-updater/app/coffee/RealTimeRedisManager.coffee b/services/document-updater/app/coffee/RealTimeRedisManager.coffee
index d6a4fc5044..d04f2304d3 100644
--- a/services/document-updater/app/coffee/RealTimeRedisManager.coffee
+++ b/services/document-updater/app/coffee/RealTimeRedisManager.coffee
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ module.exports = RealTimeRedisManager =
 		data?._id = message_id
 		# publish on separate channels for individual projects and docs when
 		# configured (needs realtime to be configured for this too).
-		if Settings.publishOnIndividualChannels and data.doc_id?
+		if Settings.publishOnIndividualChannels
 			pubsubClient.publish "applied-ops:#{data.doc_id}", JSON.stringify(data)
 		else
 			pubsubClient.publish "applied-ops", JSON.stringify(data)