diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 551cce53..1df1d91a 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/zyedidia/highlight v0.0.0-20170330143449-201131ce5cf5
 	github.com/zyedidia/json5 v0.0.0-20200102012142-2da050b1a98d
 	github.com/zyedidia/pty v2.0.0+incompatible // indirect
-	github.com/zyedidia/tcell v1.4.1
+	github.com/zyedidia/tcell v1.4.2
 	github.com/zyedidia/terminal v0.0.0-20180726154117-533c623e2415
 	golang.org/x/text v0.3.2
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.7
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 714b292b..cd432bdc 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ github.com/zyedidia/tcell v1.4.0 h1:uhAz+bdB3HHlVP2hff3WURkI+pERNwgVfy27oi1Gb2A=
 github.com/zyedidia/tcell v1.4.0/go.mod h1:HhlbMSCcGX15rFDB+Q1Lk3pKEOocsCUAQC3zhZ9sadA=
 github.com/zyedidia/tcell v1.4.1 h1:zLci8cg1SLINjwSePZ1yUWnYOnZXMyr4h+zaOvhu5K8=
 github.com/zyedidia/tcell v1.4.1/go.mod h1:HhlbMSCcGX15rFDB+Q1Lk3pKEOocsCUAQC3zhZ9sadA=
+github.com/zyedidia/tcell v1.4.2 h1:JWMDs6O1saINPIR5M3kNqlWJwkfnBZeZDZszEJi3BW8=
+github.com/zyedidia/tcell v1.4.2/go.mod h1:HhlbMSCcGX15rFDB+Q1Lk3pKEOocsCUAQC3zhZ9sadA=
 github.com/zyedidia/terminal v0.0.0-20180726154117-533c623e2415 h1:752dTQ5OatJ9M5ULK2+9lor+nzyZz+LYDo3WGngg3Rc=
 github.com/zyedidia/terminal v0.0.0-20180726154117-533c623e2415/go.mod h1:8leT8G0Cm8NoJHdrrKHyR9MirWoF4YW7pZh06B6H+1E=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20190204203706-41f3e6584952/go.mod h1:STP8DvDyc/dI5b8T5hshtkjS+E42TnysNCUPdjciGhY=
diff --git a/runtime/help/colors.md b/runtime/help/colors.md
index c2825f41..81cbc194 100644
--- a/runtime/help/colors.md
+++ b/runtime/help/colors.md
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ color support comes in three flavors.
   terminal emulator will be slightly off). Not all terminals support true color
   but at this point most do. True color support in micro is off by default but
   can be enabled by setting the environment variable `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` to 1.
+  In addition your terminal must support it (usually indicated by setting `$COLORTERM`
+  to `truecolor`).
   True-color colorschemes in micro typically end with `-tc`, such as `solarized-tc`,
   `atom-dark-tc`, `material-tc`, etc... If true color is not enabled but a true
   color colorscheme is used, micro will do its best to approximate the colors
@@ -76,7 +78,9 @@ These may vary widely based on the 16 colors selected for your terminal.
 
 ### True color
 
-These require terminals that support true color and require `MICRO_TRUECOLOR=1` (this is an environment variable).
+True color requires your terminal to support it. This means that the environment variable
+`COLORTERM` should have the value `truecolor`, `24bit`, or `24-bit`. In addition, to enable
+true color in micro, the environment variable `MICRO_TRUECOLOR` must be set to 1.
 
 * `solarized-tc`: this is the solarized colorscheme for true color.
 * `atom-dark-tc`: this colorscheme is based off of Atom's "dark" colorscheme.