diff --git a/dotfiles/gitconfig b/dotfiles/gitconfig
index 247c3601..b9bb2c67 100644
--- a/dotfiles/gitconfig
+++ b/dotfiles/gitconfig
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 	# Use custom `.gitignore` and `.gitattributes`
 	excludesfile = ~/.gitignore
 	attributesfile = ~/.gitattributes
-	pager = less -FXr
+	# pager = less -FXr # set with environment variable so that pager can be different when inside emacs
 
 [color]
 	# Use colors in Git commands that are capable of colored output when
diff --git a/dotfiles/lib/shellenv/emacs.sh b/dotfiles/lib/shellenv/emacs.sh
index 063e5607..6be1c1ce 100644
--- a/dotfiles/lib/shellenv/emacs.sh
+++ b/dotfiles/lib/shellenv/emacs.sh
@@ -116,3 +116,10 @@ export EDITOR="$HOME/.lib/editor.sh"
 export ALTERNATE_EDITOR=""
 export VISUAL="$EDITOR"
 export GIT_EDITOR="$EDITOR"
+
+# This actually gets executed in dotfiles/lib/shellrc.sh to make sure that it takes precedence over other settings
+function inside_emacs_hook {
+    export PAGER="$EDITOR"
+    export GITPAGER="$EDITOR"
+    export MANPAGER="$EDITOR"
+}
diff --git a/dotfiles/lib/shellrc.sh b/dotfiles/lib/shellrc.sh
index d60bc57c..96643921 100644
--- a/dotfiles/lib/shellrc.sh
+++ b/dotfiles/lib/shellrc.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 for filename in ~/.lib/shellrc/*; do
     source $filename
 done
+environment_variable_exists INSIDE_EMACS && inside_emacs_hook