diff --git a/openff/interchange/components/interchange.py b/openff/interchange/components/interchange.py
index 4b3fd94e..98906750 100644
--- a/openff/interchange/components/interchange.py
+++ b/openff/interchange/components/interchange.py
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ def from_smirnoff(
             positions are taken from the molecules in topology, if present on all molecules.
         charge_from_molecules : `List[openff.toolkit.molecule.Molecule]`, optional
             If specified, partial charges will be taken from the given molecules
-            instead of being determined by the force field.
+            instead of being determined by the force field. In either case, charges
+            on the input topology are ignored.
         partial_bond_orders_from_molecules : List[openff.toolkit.molecule.Molecule], optional
             If specified, partial bond orders will be taken from the given molecules
             instead of being determined by the force field.
@@ -121,6 +122,10 @@ def from_smirnoff(
         If the `Molecule` objects in the `topology` argument each contain conformers, the returned `Interchange` object
         will have its positions set via concatenating the 0th conformer of each `Molecule`.
 
+        If the `Molecule` objects in the `topology` argument have stored partial charges, these are ignored and charges
+        are assigned according to the contents of the force field. To override the force field and use preset charges,
+        use the `charge_from_molecules` argument.
+
         Examples
         --------
         Generate an Interchange object from a single-molecule (OpenFF) topology and