diff --git a/R/BiocParallelParam-class.R b/R/BiocParallelParam-class.R
index 1af985f1..7dcdfd53 100644
--- a/R/BiocParallelParam-class.R
+++ b/R/BiocParallelParam-class.R
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ setMethod("bpprogressbar", "BiocParallelParam",
 setReplaceMethod("bpprogressbar", c("BiocParallelParam", "logical"),
     function(x, value)
 {
-    x$progressbar <- value 
+    x$progressbar <- value
     x
 })
 
diff --git a/R/MulticoreParam-class.R b/R/MulticoreParam-class.R
index 3433dd28..e60a0bee 100644
--- a/R/MulticoreParam-class.R
+++ b/R/MulticoreParam-class.R
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ MulticoreParam <- function(workers=multicoreWorkers(), tasks=0L,
         workers = 1L
     }
 
+    if (progressbar && missing(tasks))
+        tasks <- .Machine$integer.max
+
     clusterargs <- c(list(spec=workers, type="FORK"), list(...))
 
     manager.hostname <-
diff --git a/R/SnowParam-class.R b/R/SnowParam-class.R
index 25096960..4e94797e 100644
--- a/R/SnowParam-class.R
+++ b/R/SnowParam-class.R
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ SnowParam <- function(workers=snowWorkers(type),
     if (type %in% c("MPI", "FORK") && is(workers, "character"))
         stop("'workers' must be integer(1) when 'type' is MPI or FORK")
 
+    if (progressbar && missing(tasks))
+        tasks <- .Machine$integer.max
+
     clusterargs <- c(list(spec=workers, type=type), list(...))
 
     manager.hostname <-
diff --git a/inst/unitTests/test_MulticoreParam.R b/inst/unitTests/test_MulticoreParam.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4b2da0de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/inst/unitTests/test_MulticoreParam.R
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+test_MulticoreParam_progressbar <- function()
+{
+    if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows")
+        return()
+
+    checkIdentical(bptasks(MulticoreParam()), 0L)
+    checkIdentical(bptasks(MulticoreParam(tasks = 0L, progressbar = TRUE)), 0L)
+    checkIdentical(
+        bptasks(MulticoreParam(progressbar = TRUE)),
+        .Machine$integer.max
+    )
+}
diff --git a/inst/unitTests/test_SnowParam.R b/inst/unitTests/test_SnowParam.R
index ca06645b..e6c8ebd5 100644
--- a/inst/unitTests/test_SnowParam.R
+++ b/inst/unitTests/test_SnowParam.R
@@ -105,3 +105,10 @@ test_SnowParam_workers <- function()
     checkException(SnowParam("host", "MPI"), silent=TRUE)
     checkException(SnowParam("host", "FORK"), silent=TRUE)
 }
+
+test_SnowParam_progressbar <- function()
+{
+    checkIdentical(bptasks(SnowParam()), 0L)
+    checkIdentical(bptasks(SnowParam(tasks = 0L, progressbar = TRUE)), 0L)
+    checkIdentical(bptasks(SnowParam(progressbar = TRUE)), .Machine$integer.max)
+}
diff --git a/man/MulticoreParam-class.Rd b/man/MulticoreParam-class.Rd
index d56d02f4..1253833c 100644
--- a/man/MulticoreParam-class.Rd
+++ b/man/MulticoreParam-class.Rd
@@ -185,12 +185,16 @@ multicoreWorkers()
 
     In this documentation a job is defined as a single call to a function, such
     as \code{bplapply}, \code{bpmapply} etc. A task is the division of the
-    \code{X} argument into chunks. When \code{tasks == 0} (default), \code{X}
-    is divided as evenly as possible over the number of workers.
+    \code{X} argument into chunks.
 
-    A \code{tasks} value of > 0 specifies the exact number of tasks. Values
-    can range from 1 (all of \code{X} to a single worker) to the length of
-    \code{X} (each element of \code{X} to a different worker).
+    When \code{tasks == 0} (default, except when \code{progressbar =
+    TRUE}), \code{X} is divided as evenly as possible over the number of
+    workers.
+
+    A \code{tasks} value of > 0 specifies the exact number of
+    tasks. Values can range from 1 (all of \code{X} to a single worker)
+    to the length of \code{X} (each element of \code{X} to a different
+    worker).
 
     When the length of \code{X} is less than the number of workers each
     element of \code{X} is sent to a worker and \code{tasks} is ignored.
@@ -202,7 +206,10 @@ multicoreWorkers()
     \code{logical(1)} Enable stop on error.
   }
   \item{progressbar}{
-    \code{logical(1)} Enable progress bar (based on plyr:::progress_text).
+    \code{logical(1)} Enable progress bar (based on
+    plyr:::progress_text). Enabling the progress bar changes the
+    \emph{default} value of \code{tasks} to \code{.Machine$integer.max}, so
+    that progress is reported for each element of \code{X}.
   }
   \item{RNGseed}{
     \code{integer(1)} Seed for random number generation. When not \code{NULL},