lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm | 3 ++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
index cfdd362859d8750aed02ec273553f1b546eb9b12..4ff7a379b3c3800c96d4648ea629146d5b1627fc 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
@@ -250,7 +250,8 @@ 			} elsif (-d $input_path) {
 				require PublicInbox::MdirReader;
 				$ifmt eq 'maildir' or return
 					$lei->fail("$ifmt not supported");
-				$input = $lei->abs_path($input) if $sync;
+				$sync and $input = 'maildir:'.
+						$lei->abs_path($input_path);
 			} else {
 				return $lei->fail("Unable to handle $input");
 			}