diff --git a/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/clangmodelmanagersupport.cpp b/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/clangmodelmanagersupport.cpp
index 477ab9104b9..3cf94e19c7c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/clangmodelmanagersupport.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/clangmodelmanagersupport.cpp
@@ -796,11 +796,6 @@ void ClangModelManagerSupport::watchForExternalChanges()
         if (!LanguageClientManager::hasClients<ClangdClient>())
             return;
         for (const FilePath &file : files) {
-            if (TextEditor::TextDocument::textDocumentForFilePath(file)) {
-                // if we have a document for that file we should receive the content
-                // change via the document signals
-                continue;
-            }
             const ProjectFile::Kind kind = ProjectFile::classify(file.toString());
             if (!ProjectFile::isSource(kind) && !ProjectFile::isHeader(kind))
                 continue;
diff --git a/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/test/clangdtests.cpp b/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/test/clangdtests.cpp
index 1edec4c2905..bfe7ea95368 100644
--- a/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/test/clangdtests.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/clangcodemodel/test/clangdtests.cpp
@@ -2207,15 +2207,21 @@ void ClangdTestExternalChanges::test()
     QVERIFY(curDoc->marks().isEmpty());
 
     // Now trigger an external change in an open, but not currently visible file and
-    // verify that we get diagnostics in the current editor.
+    // verify that we get a new client and diagnostics in the current editor.
     TextDocument * const docToChange = document("mainwindow.cpp");
     docToChange->setSilentReload();
     QFile otherSource(filePath("mainwindow.cpp").toString());
     QVERIFY(otherSource.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly));
     otherSource.write("blubb");
     otherSource.close();
+    QVERIFY(waitForSignalOrTimeout(LanguageClientManager::instance(),
+                                   &LanguageClientManager::clientAdded, timeOutInMs()));
+    ClangdClient * const newClient = ClangModelManagerSupport::clientForProject(project());
+    QVERIFY(newClient);
+    QVERIFY(newClient != oldClient);
+    newClient->enableTesting();
     if (curDoc->marks().isEmpty())
-        QVERIFY(waitForSignalOrTimeout(client(), &ClangdClient::textMarkCreated, timeOutInMs()));
+        QVERIFY(waitForSignalOrTimeout(newClient, &ClangdClient::textMarkCreated, timeOutInMs()));
 }