diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 96bb44565..c9d66f781 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 1.3.4+dev (2020-03-??)
 ----------------------
 
+**Fixed**
+- Removed leading slash in notebook paths (#444)
+
 **Changed**
 - The jupyterlab extension (in version 1.2.0) is compatible with JupyterLab 2.0. Many thanks to Jean Helie! (#447)
 - It is not compatible with JupyterLab 1.x anymore. If you wish, you can install manually the previous version of the extension with `jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-jupytext@1.1.1`.
diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 8384c1ef8..c981803f5 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ channels:
   - default
   - conda-forge
 dependencies:
-  - python==3.7
+  - python
   - jupyter
   - jupyterlab
   - pyyaml
diff --git a/jupytext/contentsmanager.py b/jupytext/contentsmanager.py
index 8936cfccd..cee9b9ae2 100644
--- a/jupytext/contentsmanager.py
+++ b/jupytext/contentsmanager.py
@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ def save(self, model, path=''):
             if model['type'] != 'notebook':
                 return super(JupytextContentsManager, self).save(model, path)
 
+            path = path.strip('/')
             nbk = model['content']
             try:
                 metadata = nbk.get('metadata')
@@ -284,7 +285,9 @@ def save(self, model, path=''):
 
         def get(self, path, content=True, type=None, format=None, load_alternative_format=True):
             """ Takes a path for an entity and returns its model"""
-            os_path = self._get_os_path(path.strip('/'))
+            path = path.strip('/')
+
+            os_path = self._get_os_path(path)
             ext = os.path.splitext(path)[1]
 
             # Not a notebook?
diff --git a/jupytext/version.py b/jupytext/version.py
index 267964609..6bb619b7b 100644
--- a/jupytext/version.py
+++ b/jupytext/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """Jupytext's version number"""
 
-__version__ = '1.3.4'
+__version__ = '1.3.4+dev'
diff --git a/tests/test_paired_paths.py b/tests/test_paired_paths.py
index 57b4ba6d9..a25ded97d 100644
--- a/tests/test_paired_paths.py
+++ b/tests/test_paired_paths.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def test_prefix_on_root_174():
     formats = long_form_multiple_formats(short_formats)
     assert short_form_multiple_formats(formats) == short_formats
 
-    expected_paths = ['/Untitled.ipynb', '/python/Untitled.py']
+    expected_paths = ['Untitled.ipynb', 'python/Untitled.py']
     for fmt, path in zip(formats, expected_paths):
         compare(paired_paths(path, fmt, formats), list(zip(expected_paths, formats)))