diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fcfe56e56..1ab9fc6de 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 
  * src/utils.c:
    Fix opening filenames beginning with two dots (closes #2858487).
+ * src/interface.c, src/highlighting.c, src/prefs.c, src/filetypes.c,
+   src/filetypes.h, src/main.c, doc/geany.txt, doc/geany.html,
+   data/filetypes.common, geany.glade:
+   Update syntax highlighting after changing the 'Invert syntax
+   highlighting colors' pref, instead of requiring a restart.
+   Remove filetypes.common invert_all option - use 'Invert syntax
+   highlighting colors' pref instead (closes #2854525).
 
 
 2009-09-13  Nick Treleaven  <nick(dot)treleaven(at)btinternet(dot)com>
diff --git a/data/filetypes.common b/data/filetypes.common
index 73f96a7ac..23b0fc4be 100644
--- a/data/filetypes.common
+++ b/data/filetypes.common
@@ -71,9 +71,6 @@ folding_style=1;1;false;false
 # 2 to draw the line below folded text
 folding_horiz_line=2;0;false;false
 
-# only first argument is interpreted, sets whether all defined colours should be inverted
-invert_all=0;0;false;false
-
 # only first and second argument is interpreted
 # first argument: drawing of visual flags to indicate a line is wrapped. This is a bitmask of the
 # values: 0 - No visual flags, 1 - Visual flag at end of subline of a wrapped line, 2 - Visual flag
diff --git a/doc/geany.html b/doc/geany.html
index c8b75b547..02ac96034 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="2009-08-25" />
+<meta name="date" content="2009-09-10" />
 <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>2009-08-25</td></tr>
+<td>2009-09-10</td></tr>
 <tr><th class="docinfo-name">Version:</th>
 <td>0.19</td></tr>
 </tbody>
@@ -2151,12 +2151,8 @@ characters this should work.</p>
 <h4><a class="toc-backref" href="#id105" id="display" name="display">Display</a></h4>
 <dl class="docutils">
 <dt>Invert syntax highlighting colors</dt>
-<dd><p class="first">Use white text on a black background and invert all colors.
-If the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">invert_all</span></tt> setting in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">filetypes.common</span></tt> is set, this
-option is always enabled. See <a class="reference" href="#special-file-filetypes-common">Special file filetypes.common</a>
-for details.</p>
-<p class="last">This option requires a restart of Geany. The value of this option</p>
-</dd>
+<dd>Invert all colors, by default this makes white text on a black
+background.</dd>
 <dt>Show indendation guides</dt>
 <dd>Show vertical lines to help show how much leading indentation there
 is on each line.</dd>
@@ -3956,15 +3952,6 @@ first argument is used.</p>
 </ul>
 <p class="last"><em>Example:</em> <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">folding_horiz_line=0;0;false;false</span></tt></p>
 </dd>
-<dt>invert_all</dt>
-<dd><p class="first">Whether to invert all defined colors. This is useful if you like a
-dark background color(e.g. black) and do not want to change every
-single line. Please note, at time of writing this was only tested
-with the C syntax highlighting.</p>
-<p>Only first argument is interpreted. Set it to 1 to invert all
-colors.</p>
-<p class="last"><em>Example:</em> <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">invert_all=0;0;false;false</span></tt></p>
-</dd>
 <dt>line_wrap_visuals</dt>
 <dd><p class="first">First argument: drawing of visual flags to indicate a line is wrapped.
 This is a bitmask of the values:</p>
@@ -5413,7 +5400,7 @@ 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: 2009-09-10 16:55 UTC.
+Generated on: 2009-09-14 11:50 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 278a5e524..c75f7208f 100644
--- a/doc/geany.txt
+++ b/doc/geany.txt
@@ -1883,12 +1883,8 @@ Display
 ```````
 
 Invert syntax highlighting colors
-    Use white text on a black background and invert all colors.
-    If the ``invert_all`` setting in ``filetypes.common`` is set, this
-    option is always enabled. See `Special file filetypes.common`_
-    for details.
-
-    This option requires a restart of Geany. The value of this option
+    Invert all colors, by default this makes white text on a black
+    background.
 
 Show indendation guides
     Show vertical lines to help show how much leading indentation there
@@ -3517,17 +3513,6 @@ folding_horiz_line
 
     *Example:* ``folding_horiz_line=0;0;false;false``
 
-invert_all
-    Whether to invert all defined colors. This is useful if you like a
-    dark background color(e.g. black) and do not want to change every
-    single line. Please note, at time of writing this was only tested
-    with the C syntax highlighting.
-
-    Only first argument is interpreted. Set it to 1 to invert all
-    colors.
-
-    *Example:* ``invert_all=0;0;false;false``
-
 line_wrap_visuals
     First argument: drawing of visual flags to indicate a line is wrapped.
     This is a bitmask of the values:
diff --git a/geany.glade b/geany.glade
index 0f142b433..f3f00be87 100644
--- a/geany.glade
+++ b/geany.glade
@@ -6480,7 +6480,7 @@ Match braces</property>
 			      <child>
 				<widget class="GtkCheckButton" id="check_highlighting_invert">
 				  <property name="visible">True</property>
-				  <property name="tooltip" translatable="yes">Use white text on a black background and invert all colors, this option requires a restart of Geany</property>
+				  <property name="tooltip" translatable="yes">Invert all colors, by default using white text on a black background</property>
 				  <property name="can_focus">True</property>
 				  <property name="label" translatable="yes">Invert syntax highlighting colors</property>
 				  <property name="use_underline">True</property>
diff --git a/src/filetypes.c b/src/filetypes.c
index fce6c02f2..2606a7a4d 100644
--- a/src/filetypes.c
+++ b/src/filetypes.c
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ static void init_builtin_filetypes(void)
 	ft->comment_open = NULL;
 	ft->comment_close = NULL;
 	ft->group = GEANY_FILETYPE_GROUP_MISC;
-	
+
 #define TXT2TAGS
 	ft = filetypes[GEANY_FILETYPES_TXT2TAGS];
 	ft->lang = 37;
@@ -1576,3 +1576,24 @@ GeanyFiletype *filetypes_index(gint idx)
 {
 	return (idx >= 0 && idx < (gint) filetypes_array->len) ? filetypes[idx] : NULL;
 }
+
+
+void filetypes_reload(void)
+{
+	guint i;
+
+	/* save possibly changed commands before re-reading them */
+	filetypes_save_commands();
+
+	/* reload filetype configs */
+	for (i = 0; i < filetypes_array->len; i++)
+	{
+		/* filetypes_load_config() will skip not loaded filetypes */
+		filetypes_load_config(i, TRUE);
+	}
+	/* update document styling */
+	documents_foreach(i)
+		document_reload_config(documents[i]);
+}
+
+
diff --git a/src/filetypes.h b/src/filetypes.h
index 83fd2710e..097dea91b 100644
--- a/src/filetypes.h
+++ b/src/filetypes.h
@@ -156,6 +156,9 @@ void filetypes_init_types(void);
 
 void filetypes_read_extensions(void);
 
+void filetypes_reload(void);
+
+
 GeanyFiletype *filetypes_index(gint idx);
 
 GeanyFiletype *filetypes_detect_from_document(GeanyDocument *doc);
diff --git a/src/highlighting.c b/src/highlighting.c
index d32d2c7af..86d76321c 100644
--- a/src/highlighting.c
+++ b/src/highlighting.c
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ static struct
 {
 	GeanyLexerStyle	 styling[GCS_MAX];
 	FoldingStyle	 folding_style;
-	gboolean		 invert_all;
 	gchar			*wordchars;
 } common_style_set;
 
@@ -393,7 +392,7 @@ static void get_keyfile_int(GKeyFile *config, GKeyFile *configh, const gchar *se
 
 static guint invert(guint icolour)
 {
-	if (common_style_set.invert_all)
+	if (interface_prefs.highlighting_invert_all)
 		return utils_invert_color(icolour);
 
 	return icolour;
@@ -565,9 +564,6 @@ static void styleset_common_init(gint ft_id, GKeyFile *config, GKeyFile *config_
 			1, 1, &tmp_style);
 		common_style_set.folding_style.marker = tmp_style.foreground;
 		common_style_set.folding_style.lines = tmp_style.background;
-		get_keyfile_int(config, config_home, "styling", "invert_all",
-			0, 0, &tmp_style);
-		common_style_set.invert_all = tmp_style.foreground;
 		get_keyfile_int(config, config_home, "styling", "folding_horiz_line",
 			2, 0, &tmp_style);
 		common_style_set.folding_style.draw_line = tmp_style.foreground;
@@ -596,8 +592,6 @@ static void styleset_common_init(gint ft_id, GKeyFile *config, GKeyFile *config_
 		common_style_set.styling[GCS_LINE_HEIGHT].background = tmp_style.background;
 	}
 
-	common_style_set.invert_all = interface_prefs.highlighting_invert_all =
-		(common_style_set.invert_all || interface_prefs.highlighting_invert_all);
 	get_keyfile_wordchars(config, config_home, &common_style_set.wordchars);
 	whitespace_chars = get_keyfile_whitespace_chars(config, config_home);
 }
diff --git a/src/interface.c b/src/interface.c
index 80d1b1136..c9193e5ef 100644
--- a/src/interface.c
+++ b/src/interface.c
@@ -3783,7 +3783,7 @@ create_prefs_dialog (void)
   check_highlighting_invert = gtk_check_button_new_with_mnemonic (_("Invert syntax highlighting colors"));
   gtk_widget_show (check_highlighting_invert);
   gtk_box_pack_start (GTK_BOX (vbox12), check_highlighting_invert, FALSE, FALSE, 0);
-  gtk_tooltips_set_tip (tooltips, check_highlighting_invert, _("Use white text on a black background and invert all colors, this option requires a restart of Geany"), NULL);
+  gtk_tooltips_set_tip (tooltips, check_highlighting_invert, _("Invert all colors, by default using white text on a black background"), NULL);
 
   check_indent = gtk_check_button_new_with_mnemonic (_("Show indentation guides"));
   gtk_widget_show (check_indent);
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 5ff79f1fc..87369e6b3 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -1182,8 +1182,6 @@ void *rpl_malloc(size_t n)
  **/
 void main_reload_configuration(void)
 {
-	guint i;
-
 	/* reload templates */
 	templates_free_templates();
 	templates_init();
@@ -1195,17 +1193,7 @@ void main_reload_configuration(void)
 	/* reload filetype extensions */
 	filetypes_read_extensions();
 
-	/* save possibly changed commands before re-reading them */
-	filetypes_save_commands();
-
-	/* reload filetype configs */
-	for (i = 0; i < filetypes_array->len; i++)
-	{
-		/* filetypes_load_config() will skip not loaded filetypes */
-		filetypes_load_config(i, TRUE);
-	}
-	documents_foreach(i)
-		document_reload_config(documents[i]);
+	filetypes_reload();
 
 	/* C tag names to ignore */
 	symbols_reload_config_files();
diff --git a/src/prefs.c b/src/prefs.c
index 4fe4f7809..b69bad01d 100644
--- a/src/prefs.c
+++ b/src/prefs.c
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
 #include "toolbar.h"
 #include "stash.h"
 #include "keyfile.h"
+#include "filetypes.h"
 
 #ifdef HAVE_VTE
 # include "vte.h"
@@ -739,10 +740,14 @@ on_prefs_button_clicked(GtkDialog *dialog, gint response, gpointer user_data)
 		GtkWidget *widget;
 		guint i;
 		guint autoclose_brackets[5];
+		gboolean old_invert_all = interface_prefs.highlighting_invert_all;
 
 		/* Synchronize Stash settings */
 		prefs_action(PREF_UPDATE);
 
+		if (interface_prefs.highlighting_invert_all != old_invert_all)
+			filetypes_reload();
+
 		/* General settings */
 		/* startup */
 		widget = ui_lookup_widget(ui_widgets.prefs_dialog, "check_load_session");
@@ -1581,7 +1586,7 @@ void prefs_show_dialog(void)
 				"font-set", G_CALLBACK(on_prefs_font_choosed), GINT_TO_POINTER(3));
 		g_signal_connect(ui_lookup_widget(ui_widgets.prefs_dialog, "long_line_color"),
 				"color-set", G_CALLBACK(on_prefs_color_choosed), GINT_TO_POINTER(1));
-		/* file chooser buttons in the tools tab 
+		/* file chooser buttons in the tools tab
 		g_signal_connect(ui_lookup_widget(ui_widgets.prefs_dialog, "button_make"),
 				"clicked", G_CALLBACK(on_prefs_tools_button_clicked), ui_lookup_widget(ui_widgets.prefs_dialog, "entry_com_make")); */
 		g_signal_connect(ui_lookup_widget(ui_widgets.prefs_dialog, "button_term"),