diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d889d81d4..7cf60217e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
    Insert menu.
  * src/interface.c, geany.glade:
    Move editor popup menu Insert Comments submenu to top of Insert menu.
+ * src/ui_utils.h, src/document.c, src/ui_utils.c, doc/geany.txt,
+   doc/geany.html:
+   Add hidden pref new_document_after_close for whether to open a new
+   document automatically, off by default.
 
 
 2010-09-22  Nick Treleaven  <nick(dot)treleaven(at)btinternet(dot)com>
diff --git a/doc/geany.html b/doc/geany.html
index d20599323..248b63c45 100644
--- a/doc/geany.html
+++ b/doc/geany.html
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 <meta name="generator" content="Docutils 0.4: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/" />
 <title>Geany</title>
 <meta name="authors" content="Enrico Tröger  Nick Treleaven  Frank Lanitz" />
-<meta name="date" content="2010-09-21" />
+<meta name="date" content="2010-09-23" />
 <style type="text/css">
 
 /*
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ Stylesheet for Geany's documentation based on a version of John Gabriele.
 <br />Nick Treleaven
 <br />Frank Lanitz</td></tr>
 <tr><th class="docinfo-name">Date:</th>
-<td>2010-09-21</td></tr>
+<td>2010-09-23</td></tr>
 <tr><th class="docinfo-name">Version:</th>
 <td>0.20</td></tr>
 </tbody>
@@ -4759,6 +4759,11 @@ tab.</td>
 (Search in src/ui_utils.c for details).</td>
 <td>See below.</td>
 </tr>
+<tr><td>new_document_after_close</td>
+<td>Whether to open a new document after all
+documents have been closed.</td>
+<td>false</td>
+</tr>
 </tbody>
 </table>
 <p>By default, statusbar_template is empty. This tells Geany to use its
@@ -6180,7 +6185,7 @@ USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.</p>
 <div class="footer">
 <hr class="footer" />
 <a class="reference" href="geany.txt">View document source</a>.
-Generated on: 2010-09-23 12:16 UTC.
+Generated on: 2010-09-23 16:20 UTC.
 Generated by <a class="reference" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/">Docutils</a> from <a class="reference" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">reStructuredText</a> source.
 
 </div>
diff --git a/doc/geany.txt b/doc/geany.txt
index 065698f7f..c715eba6a 100644
--- a/doc/geany.txt
+++ b/doc/geany.txt
@@ -4081,6 +4081,8 @@ compiler_tab_autoscroll           Whether to automatically scroll to the       t
                                   tab.
 statusbar_template                The status bar statistics line format.       See below.
                                   (Search in src/ui_utils.c for details).
+new_document_after_close          Whether to open a new document after all     false
+                                  documents have been closed.
 ================================  ===========================================  ==================
 
 By default, statusbar_template is empty. This tells Geany to use its
diff --git a/src/document.c b/src/document.c
index 2a27bae4c..22c7b4b8e 100644
--- a/src/document.c
+++ b/src/document.c
@@ -685,8 +685,12 @@ gboolean document_remove_page(guint page_num)
 		ui_update_popup_reundo_items(NULL);
 		ui_document_buttons_update();
 		build_menu_update(NULL);
+
+		/* we use an idle callback to prevent opening a new document if other documents
+		 * are about to be opened. */
+		if (ui_prefs.new_document_after_close)
+			g_idle_add(on_idle_new_doc, NULL);
 	}
-	g_idle_add(on_idle_new_doc, NULL);
 	return TRUE;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/ui_utils.c b/src/ui_utils.c
index e72875b08..4ee244aa5 100644
--- a/src/ui_utils.c
+++ b/src/ui_utils.c
@@ -2050,6 +2050,8 @@ void ui_init_prefs(void)
 		"allow_always_save", FALSE);
 	stash_group_add_string(group, &statusbar_template,
 		"statusbar_template", "");
+	stash_group_add_boolean(group, &ui_prefs.new_document_after_close,
+		"new_document_after_close", FALSE);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/ui_utils.h b/src/ui_utils.h
index 66d643bc0..eecf70fb9 100644
--- a/src/ui_utils.h
+++ b/src/ui_utils.h
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ typedef struct UIPrefs
 	gint		sidebar_page;
 	gboolean	msgwindow_visible;
 	gboolean	allow_always_save; /* if set, files can always be saved, even if unchanged */
+	gboolean	new_document_after_close;
 
 	/* Menu-item related data */
 	GQueue		*recent_queue;