diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/from.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/from.rs
index 61dc92c9de..18e214cbd8 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/from.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/from.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ impl WholeStreamCommand for From {
     }
 
     fn usage(&self) -> &str {
-        "Parse content (string or binary) as a table."
+        "Parse content (string or binary) as a table (input format based on subcommand, like csv, ini, json, toml)"
     }
 
     fn run(
diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/to.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/to.rs
index 3df721e9c2..17a0cf693f 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/to.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/to.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ impl WholeStreamCommand for To {
     }
 
     fn usage(&self) -> &str {
-        "Convert table into an output format."
+        "Convert table into an output format (based on subcommand, like csv, html, json, yaml)."
     }
 
     fn run(