diff --git a/docs/helpers/configenvextractor.go b/docs/helpers/configenvextractor.go
index b932d318f3..bc504fc32e 100644
--- a/docs/helpers/configenvextractor.go
+++ b/docs/helpers/configenvextractor.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func main() {
+	fmt.Println("Getting relevant packages")
 	paths, err := filepath.Glob("../../*/pkg/config/defaultconfig.go")
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ func main() {
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
+	fmt.Println("Generating intermediate go code")
 	tpl := template.Must(template.New("").Parse(string(content)))
 	os.Mkdir("output", 0700)
 	runner, err := os.Create("output/runner.go")
@@ -34,13 +36,15 @@ func main() {
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	tpl.Execute(runner, paths)
+	fmt.Println("Running intermediate go code")
 	os.Chdir("output")
 	os.Setenv("OCIS_BASE_DATA_PATH", "~/.ocis")
 	out, err := exec.Command("go", "run", "runner.go").Output()
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
+	fmt.Println(string(out))
+	fmt.Println("Cleaning up")
 	os.Chdir("../")
 	os.RemoveAll("output")
-	fmt.Println(string(out))
 }
diff --git a/docs/helpers/extractor.go.tmpl b/docs/helpers/extractor.go.tmpl
index b07ee1fa08..3503ea2274 100644
--- a/docs/helpers/extractor.go.tmpl
+++ b/docs/helpers/extractor.go.tmpl
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ type ConfigField struct {
 }
 
 func main() {
+fmt.Println("Generating documentation for environment variables:")
 content, err := ioutil.ReadFile("../../../docs/templates/CONFIGURATION.tmpl")
 if err != nil {
     log.Fatal(err)
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@ m := map[string]interface{}{
     for pkg, conf := range m {
 	fields = GetAnnotatedVariables(conf)
 	if len(fields) > 0 {
+	fmt.Printf("... %s\n", pkg)
 		targetFile, err = os.Create(filepath.Join(targetFolder, replacer.Replace(pkg) + "_configvars.md"))
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Fatalf("Failed to create target file: %s", err)
@@ -54,6 +56,7 @@ m := map[string]interface{}{
 		}
 	}
     }
+	fmt.Println("done")
 }
 
 func GetAnnotatedVariables(s interface{}) []ConfigField {