diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/freemarker/FreeMarkerProperties.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/freemarker/FreeMarkerProperties.java
index be5e7eb62a..466bce2343 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/freemarker/FreeMarkerProperties.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/freemarker/FreeMarkerProperties.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2012-2019 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2012-2020 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -49,10 +49,12 @@ public class FreeMarkerProperties extends AbstractTemplateViewResolverProperties
 	private String[] templateLoaderPath = new String[] { DEFAULT_TEMPLATE_LOADER_PATH };
 
 	/**
-	 * Whether to prefer file system access for template loading. File system access
-	 * enables hot detection of template changes.
+	 * Whether to prefer file system access for template loading to enables hot detection
+	 * of template changes. When a template path is detected as a directory, templates are
+	 * loaded from the directory only and other matching classpath locations will not be
+	 * considered.
 	 */
-	private boolean preferFileSystemAccess = true;
+	private boolean preferFileSystemAccess;
 
 	public FreeMarkerProperties() {
 		super(DEFAULT_PREFIX, DEFAULT_SUFFIX);