diff --git a/base/exports.jl b/base/exports.jl
index 81815305b651e0..27e0e51caeddf7 100644
--- a/base/exports.jl
+++ b/base/exports.jl
@@ -1242,6 +1242,7 @@ export
 # shared arrays
     sdata,
     indexpids,
+    localindexes,
 
 # paths and file names
     abspath,
diff --git a/base/sharedarray.jl b/base/sharedarray.jl
index 33e4cc3a934a68..73641e7437d77e 100644
--- a/base/sharedarray.jl
+++ b/base/sharedarray.jl
@@ -139,6 +139,20 @@ indexpids(S::SharedArray) = S.pidx
 sdata(S::SharedArray) = S.s
 sdata(A::AbstractArray) = A
 
+"""
+    localindexes(S::SharedArray)
+
+A range describing the "default" indexes to be handled by the current
+process.  This range should be interpreted in the sense of linear
+indexing, i.e., as a sub-range of `1:length(S)`.  Returns an empty
+range in the parent process (or any one for which `indexpids` returns
+0).
+
+It's worth emphasizing that `localindexes` exists purely as a
+convenience, and you can partition work on the array among workers any
+way you wish.  For a SharedArray, all indexes should be equally fast
+for each worker process.
+"""
 localindexes(S::SharedArray) = S.pidx > 0 ? range_1dim(S, S.pidx) : 1:0
 
 unsafe_convert{T}(::Type{Ptr{T}}, S::SharedArray) = unsafe_convert(Ptr{T}, sdata(S))
diff --git a/doc/manual/parallel-computing.rst b/doc/manual/parallel-computing.rst
index 9087eed1f30b8e..800966bc646ca5 100644
--- a/doc/manual/parallel-computing.rst
+++ b/doc/manual/parallel-computing.rst
@@ -533,7 +533,7 @@ Here's a brief example:
    3
    4
 
-  julia> S = SharedArray(Int, (3,4), init = S -> S[Base.localindexes(S)] = myid())
+  julia> S = SharedArray(Int, (3,4), init = S -> S[localindexes(S)] = myid())
   3x4 SharedArray{Int64,2}:
    2  2  3  4
    2  3  3  4
@@ -548,7 +548,7 @@ Here's a brief example:
    2  3  3  4
    2  7  4  4
 
-:func:`Base.localindexes` provides disjoint one-dimensional ranges of indexes,
+:func:`localindexes` provides disjoint one-dimensional ranges of indexes,
 and is sometimes convenient for splitting up tasks among processes.
 You can, of course, divide the work any way you wish:
 
diff --git a/doc/stdlib/parallel.rst b/doc/stdlib/parallel.rst
index 8de090be912953..13412fae8c9c26 100644
--- a/doc/stdlib/parallel.rst
+++ b/doc/stdlib/parallel.rst
@@ -666,8 +666,8 @@ General Parallel Computing Support
     Execute an expression on all processes. Errors on any of the processes are
     collected into a `CompositeException` and thrown.
 
-Shared Arrays (Experimental, UNIX-only feature)
------------------------------------------------
+Shared Arrays
+-------------
 
 .. function:: SharedArray(T::Type, dims::NTuple; init=false, pids=Int[])
 
@@ -703,6 +703,7 @@ Shared Arrays (Experimental, UNIX-only feature)
    Returns the index of the current worker into the ``pids`` vector, i.e., the list of workers mapping
    the SharedArray
 
+.. function:: localindexes(S::SharedArray)
 Cluster Manager Interface
 -------------------------
     This interface provides a mechanism to launch and manage Julia workers on different cluster environments.