diff --git a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/dependencies/BlazeQueryDirectoryToTargetProvider.java b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/dependencies/BlazeQueryDirectoryToTargetProvider.java
index da850dc3123..e1d93ad6db6 100644
--- a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/dependencies/BlazeQueryDirectoryToTargetProvider.java
+++ b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/dependencies/BlazeQueryDirectoryToTargetProvider.java
@@ -75,17 +75,19 @@ public static String getQueryString(ImportRoots directories, boolean allowManual
       }
     }
 
+    String query = String.format("attr('tags', '^((?!no-ide).)*$', %s)", targets);
+
     if (allowManualTargetsSync) {
-      return targets.toString();
+      return query;
     }
 
     // exclude 'manual' targets, which shouldn't be built when expanding wildcard target patterns
     if (SystemInfo.isWindows) {
       // TODO(b/201974254): Windows support for Bazel sync (see
       // https://github.com/bazelbuild/intellij/issues/113).
-      return String.format("attr('tags', '^((?!manual).)*$', %s)", targets);
+      return String.format("attr('tags', '^((?!manual).)*$', %s)", query);
     }
-    return String.format("attr(\"tags\", \"^((?!manual).)*$\", %s)", targets);
+    return String.format("attr(\"tags\", \"^((?!manual).)*$\", %s)", query);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/sync/sharding/WildcardTargetExpander.java b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/sync/sharding/WildcardTargetExpander.java
index d9b74214996..b3a7b768694 100644
--- a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/sync/sharding/WildcardTargetExpander.java
+++ b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/sync/sharding/WildcardTargetExpander.java
@@ -270,8 +270,9 @@ private static String queryString(List<TargetExpression> targets, boolean exclud
     if (targetList.isEmpty()) {
       return targetList;
     }
+    String query = String.format("attr('tags', '^((?!no-ide).)*$', %s)", targetList);
     return excludeManualTargets
-        ? String.format("attr('tags', '%s', %s)", MANUAL_EXCLUDE_TAG, targetList)
-        : targetList;
+        ? String.format("attr('tags', '%s', %s)", MANUAL_EXCLUDE_TAG, query)
+        : query;
   }
 }
diff --git a/java/tests/integrationtests/com/google/idea/blaze/java/base/dependencies/BlazeQueryDirectoryToTargetProviderTest.java b/java/tests/integrationtests/com/google/idea/blaze/java/base/dependencies/BlazeQueryDirectoryToTargetProviderTest.java
index 6db5a8d8d00..b618255180f 100644
--- a/java/tests/integrationtests/com/google/idea/blaze/java/base/dependencies/BlazeQueryDirectoryToTargetProviderTest.java
+++ b/java/tests/integrationtests/com/google/idea/blaze/java/base/dependencies/BlazeQueryDirectoryToTargetProviderTest.java
@@ -54,7 +54,11 @@ public void test() {
         true,
         workspacePathResolver);
 
+    String expQueryString = String.format(
+        "attr('tags', '^((?!no-ide).)*$', %s - %s)",
+        TargetExpression.allFromPackageRecursive(included),
+        TargetExpression.allFromPackageRecursive(excluded));
 
-    assertThat(queryString).isEqualTo(TargetExpression.allFromPackageRecursive(included) + " - " + TargetExpression.allFromPackageRecursive(excluded));
+    assertThat(queryString).isEqualTo(expQueryString);
   }
 }