diff --git a/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee b/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
index 385fa12eb..24ce7e33c 100644
--- a/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/text-editor-spec.coffee
@@ -3057,7 +3057,15 @@ describe "TextEditor", ->
         coffeeEditor.setCursorBufferPosition [0, 10]
         expect(coffeeEditor.getTabLength(coffeeEditor.scopesAtCursor())).toBe 4
 
-      it 'will retokenize when the tab length is updated', ->
+      it 'will retokenize when the tab length is updated via .setTabLength()', ->
+        expect(editor.getTabLength()).toBe 2
+        expect(editor.tokenizedLineForScreenRow(5).tokens[0].firstNonWhitespaceIndex).toBe 2
+
+        editor.setTabLength(6)
+        expect(editor.getTabLength()).toBe 6
+        expect(editor.tokenizedLineForScreenRow(5).tokens[0].firstNonWhitespaceIndex).toBe 6
+
+      it 'will retokenize when the editor.tabLength setting is updated', ->
         expect(editor.getTabLength()).toBe 2
         expect(editor.tokenizedLineForScreenRow(5).tokens[0].firstNonWhitespaceIndex).toBe 2
 
diff --git a/src/tokenized-buffer.coffee b/src/tokenized-buffer.coffee
index 4f7ba6c65..c79712edf 100644
--- a/src/tokenized-buffer.coffee
+++ b/src/tokenized-buffer.coffee
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ class TokenizedBuffer extends Model
     @tabLength ? atom.config.get(scopeDescriptor ? @grammarScopeDescriptor, 'editor.tabLength')
 
   setTabLength: (@tabLength) ->
+    @retokenizeLines()
 
   setInvisibles: (invisibles) ->
     unless _.isEqual(invisibles, @invisibles)