diff --git a/core/language/en-GB/Help/savetiddlers.tid b/core/language/en-GB/Help/savetiddlers.tid
index 61b9ba30e..e327ceec3 100644
--- a/core/language/en-GB/Help/savetiddlers.tid
+++ b/core/language/en-GB/Help/savetiddlers.tid
@@ -4,9 +4,11 @@ description: Saves a group of raw tiddlers to a directory
 Saves a group of tiddlers in their raw text or binary format to the specified directory. 
 
 ```
---savetiddlers <filter> <pathname>
+--savetiddlers <filter> <pathname> [-do-not-delete]
 ```
 
 By default, the pathname is resolved relative to the `output` subdirectory of the edition directory. The `--output` command can be used to direct output to a different directory.
 
+The output directory is cleared of existing files before saving the specified files. The deletion can be disabled by specifying the ''-do-not-delete'' flag.
+
 Any missing directories in the pathname are automatically created.
diff --git a/core/modules/commands/savetiddlers.js b/core/modules/commands/savetiddlers.js
index e7bd9e901..fdb5940c1 100644
--- a/core/modules/commands/savetiddlers.js
+++ b/core/modules/commands/savetiddlers.js
@@ -35,8 +35,11 @@ Command.prototype.execute = function() {
 		wiki = this.commander.wiki,
 		filter = this.params[0],
 		pathname = path.resolve(this.commander.outputPath,this.params[1]),
+		dontDelete = (this.params[2] || "").toLowerCase() === "-do-not-delete",
 		tiddlers = wiki.filterTiddlers(filter);
-	$tw.utils.deleteDirectory(pathname);
+	if(!dontDelete) {
+		$tw.utils.deleteDirectory(pathname);
+	}
 	$tw.utils.createDirectory(pathname);
 	$tw.utils.each(tiddlers,function(title) {
 		var tiddler = self.commander.wiki.getTiddler(title),