diff --git a/public/app/core/components/manage_dashboards/manage_dashboards.html b/public/app/core/components/manage_dashboards/manage_dashboards.html
index effe9f66930..2df60fb9a6c 100644
--- a/public/app/core/components/manage_dashboards/manage_dashboards.html
+++ b/public/app/core/components/manage_dashboards/manage_dashboards.html
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <div class="dashboard-list">
-  <div class="page-action-bar page-action-bar--narrow" ng-hide="!ctrl.hasFilters && ctrl.sections.length === 0">
+  <div class="page-action-bar page-action-bar--narrow" ng-hide="ctrl.canSave && ctrl.folderId && !ctrl.hasFilters && ctrl.sections.length === 0">
     <label class="gf-form gf-form--grow gf-form--has-input-icon">
       <input type="text" class="gf-form-input max-width-30" placeholder="Find Dashboard by name" tabindex="1" give-focus="true" ng-model="ctrl.query.query" ng-model-options="{ debounce: 500 }" spellcheck='false' ng-change="ctrl.onQueryChange()" />
       <i class="gf-form-input-icon fa fa-search"></i>
@@ -105,6 +105,12 @@
   </div>
 </div>
 
+<div class="search-results" ng-show="!ctrl.canSave && !ctrl.hasFilters && ctrl.sections.length === 0">
+  <em class="muted">
+      This org has no dashboards or folders.
+  </em>
+</div>
+
 <div ng-if="ctrl.canSave && ctrl.folderId && !ctrl.hasFilters && ctrl.sections.length === 0">
   <empty-list-cta model="{
     title: 'This folder doesn\'t have any dashboards yet',
diff --git a/public/app/core/components/manage_dashboards/manage_dashboards.ts b/public/app/core/components/manage_dashboards/manage_dashboards.ts
index d0f905f5f16..4a8ab32ab7d 100644
--- a/public/app/core/components/manage_dashboards/manage_dashboards.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/components/manage_dashboards/manage_dashboards.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ export class ManageDashboardsCtrl {
   folderUid?: string;
 
   // if user can add new folders and/or add new dashboards
-  canSave: boolean;
+  canSave = false;
 
   // if user has editor role or higher
   isEditor: boolean;