diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py b/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
index ad975b16..12b4f2c5 100755
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
@@ -364,31 +364,27 @@ def check_options_languages(options, _log):
 
 
 def check_options_output(options, log):
-    if options.pdf_renderer == 'auto':
-        if tesseract.has_textonly_pdf():
-            options.pdf_renderer = 'sandwich'
-        else:
-            options.pdf_renderer = 'hocr'
-
-    if options.pdf_renderer == 'sandwich' and not tesseract.has_textonly_pdf():
-        raise MissingDependencyError(
-            "The 'sandwich' renderer requires Tesseract 3.05.01 or newer; "
-            "or Tesseract 4.00 alpha newer than February 2017.")
-
     if options.pdf_renderer == 'tesseract':
-        if tesseract.version() < '3.05' and \
-                options.output_type.startswith('pdfa'):
-            log.warning(
-                "For best results use --pdf-renderer=tesseract "
-                "--output-type=pdf to disable PDF/A generation via "
-                "Ghostscript, which is known to corrupt the OCR text of "
-                "some PDFs produced your version of Tesseract.")
-        elif tesseract.has_textonly_pdf():
-            log.warning(
-                "The argument --pdf-renderer=tesseract provides support for "
-                "versions of tesseract older than your version. For best "
-                "results omit this argument and let OCRmyPDF choose the "
-                "best available renderer.")
+        log.warning(
+            "--pdf-renderer=tesseract is now the same as "
+            "--pdf-renderer=sandwich. The 'tesseract' option is deprecated.")
+        options.pdf_renderer = 'sandwich'
+
+    if options.pdf_renderer == 'auto':
+        if tesseract.version() < '3.05' \
+                and options.output_type.startswith('pdfa'):
+            options.pdf_renderer = 'hocr'
+        else:
+            options.pdf_renderer = 'sandwich'
+
+    if options.pdf_renderer == 'sandwich' \
+            and tesseract.version() < '3.05' \
+            and options.output_type.startswith('pdfa'):
+        log.warning(
+            "For best results use --pdf-renderer=tesseract "
+            "--output-type=pdf to disable PDF/A generation via "
+            "Ghostscript, which is known to corrupt the OCR text of "
+            "some PDFs produced your version of Tesseract.")
 
     if options.debug_rendering and options.pdf_renderer != 'hocr':
         log.info(
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/pipeline.py b/src/ocrmypdf/pipeline.py
index 644ef109..9116534a 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/pipeline.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/pipeline.py
@@ -1265,8 +1265,6 @@ def build_pipeline(options, work_folder, log, context):
         extras=[log, context])
     task_select_image_layer.graphviz(
         fillcolor='"#00cc66"', shape='diamond')
-    task_select_image_layer.active_if(
-        options.pdf_renderer == 'hocr' or options.pdf_renderer == 'sandwich')
 
     task_render_hocr_page = main_pipeline.transform(
         task_func=render_hocr_page,
@@ -1296,8 +1294,7 @@ def build_pipeline(options, work_folder, log, context):
                 os.path.join(work_folder, r'\1.text.txt')],
         extras=[log, context])
     task_ocr_tesseract_textonly_pdf.graphviz(fillcolor='"#ff69b4"')
-    task_ocr_tesseract_textonly_pdf.active_if(
-        options.pdf_renderer == 'tesseract' or options.pdf_renderer == 'sandwich')
+    task_ocr_tesseract_textonly_pdf.active_if(options.pdf_renderer == 'sandwich')
 
     task_weave_layers = main_pipeline.collate(
         task_func=weave_layers,
diff --git a/tests/test_main.py b/tests/test_main.py
index fbad9ffb..e8ff3d42 100644
--- a/tests/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/test_main.py
@@ -42,9 +42,7 @@ run_ocrmypdf = pytest.helpers.run_ocrmypdf
 spoof = pytest.helpers.spoof
 
 
-RENDERERS = ['hocr', 'tesseract']
-if tesseract.has_textonly_pdf():
-    RENDERERS.append('sandwich')
+RENDERERS = ['hocr', 'sandwich']
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope='session')
@@ -624,7 +622,7 @@ def test_rotated_skew_timeout(resources, outpdf):
     """This document contains an image that is rotated 90 into place with a
     /Rotate tag and intentionally skewed by altering the transformation matrix.
 
-    This tests for a bug where the combinatino of preprocessing and a tesseract
+    This tests for a bug where the combination of preprocessing and a tesseract
     timeout produced a page whose dimensions did not match the original's.
     """