diff --git a/coolwsd.xml.in b/coolwsd.xml.in
index 91fd87c688..25ef7d0fb1 100644
--- a/coolwsd.xml.in
+++ b/coolwsd.xml.in
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
         <limit_convert_secs desc="Maximum number of seconds to wait for a document conversion to succeed. 0 for unlimited." type="uint" default="100">100</limit_convert_secs>
         <min_time_between_saves_ms desc="Minimum number of milliseconds between saving the document on disk." type="uint" default="500">500</min_time_between_saves_ms>
         <min_time_between_uploads_ms desc="Minimum number of milliseconds between uploading the document to storage." type="uint" default="5000">5000</min_time_between_uploads_ms>
+        <background_autosave desc="Allow auto-saves to occur in a forked background process where possible." type="bool" default="false">false</background_autosave>
         <cleanup desc="Checks for resource consuming (bad) documents and kills associated kit process. A document is considered resource consuming (bad) if is in idle state for idle_time_secs period and memory usage passed limit_dirty_mem_mb or CPU usage passed limit_cpu_per" enable="true">
             <cleanup_interval_ms desc="Interval between two checks" type="uint" default="10000">10000</cleanup_interval_ms>
             <bad_behavior_period_secs desc="Minimum time period for a document to be in bad state before associated kit process is killed. If in this period the condition for bad document is not met once then this period is reset" type="uint" default="60">60</bad_behavior_period_secs>
diff --git a/kit/ChildSession.cpp b/kit/ChildSession.cpp
index 25e6b1a74f..cd43b63178 100644
--- a/kit/ChildSession.cpp
+++ b/kit/ChildSession.cpp
@@ -551,15 +551,13 @@ bool ChildSession::_handleInput(const char *buffer, int length)
         }
         else if (tokens.equals(0, "save"))
         {
-            static bool doBgSave = !!getenv("COOL_BGSAVE");
+            bool background = tokens[1] == "background=true";
+            SigUtil::addActivity(getId(), (background ? "bg " : "") + firstLine);
 
-            SigUtil::addActivity(getId(), (doBgSave ? "bg " : "") + firstLine);
-
-            bool autosave = tokens[1] == "autosave=true";
             StringVector unoSave = StringVector::tokenize("uno .uno:Save " + tokens.cat(' ', 2));
 
             bool saving = false;
-            if (doBgSave && autosave)
+            if (background)
                 saving = !saveDocumentBackground(unoSave);
 
             if (!saving)
diff --git a/wsd/DocumentBroker.cpp b/wsd/DocumentBroker.cpp
index 2c9ae82413..416c48d13b 100644
--- a/wsd/DocumentBroker.cpp
+++ b/wsd/DocumentBroker.cpp
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ DocumentBroker::DocumentBroker(ChildType type, const std::string& uri, const Poc
     , _wopiDownloadDuration(0)
     , _mobileAppDocId(mobileAppDocId)
     , _alwaysSaveOnExit(COOLWSD::getConfigValue<bool>("per_document.always_save_on_exit", false))
+    , _backgroundAutoSave(COOLWSD::getConfigValue<bool>("per_document.background_autosave", true))
 #if !MOBILEAPP
     , _admin(Admin::instance())
 #endif
@@ -2649,8 +2650,8 @@ void DocumentBroker::autoSaveAndStop(const std::string& reason)
 }
 
 bool DocumentBroker::sendUnoSave(const std::shared_ptr<ClientSession>& session,
-                                 bool dontTerminateEdit, bool dontSaveIfUnmodified, bool isAutosave,
-                                 const std::string& extendedData)
+                                 bool dontTerminateEdit, bool dontSaveIfUnmodified,
+                                 bool isAutosave, const std::string& extendedData)
 {
     ASSERT_CORRECT_THREAD();
 
@@ -2689,8 +2690,12 @@ bool DocumentBroker::sendUnoSave(const std::shared_ptr<ClientSession>& session,
     // If Core does report something different after saving, we'll update this flag.
     _nextStorageAttrs.setUserModified(isModified() || haveModifyActivityAfterSaveRequest());
 
+    static bool forceBackgroundSave = !!getenv("COOL_FORCE_BGSAVE");
+
     // Note: It's odd to capture these here, but this function is used from ClientSession too.
     bool autosave = isAutosave || (_unitWsd && _unitWsd->isAutosave());
+    bool background = forceBackgroundSave || (autosave && _backgroundAutoSave);
+
     _nextStorageAttrs.setIsAutosave(autosave);
     _nextStorageAttrs.setExtendedData(extendedData);
 
@@ -2698,7 +2703,7 @@ bool DocumentBroker::sendUnoSave(const std::shared_ptr<ClientSession>& session,
     LOG_TRC("save arguments: " << saveArgs);
 
     // re-written to .uno:Save in the Kit.
-    const auto command = std::string("save autosave=") + (autosave ? "true" : "")+ " " + saveArgs;
+    const auto command = std::string("save background=") + (background ? "true" : "")+ " " + saveArgs;
     if (forwardToChild(session, command))
     {
         _saveManager.markLastSaveRequestTime();
diff --git a/wsd/DocumentBroker.hpp b/wsd/DocumentBroker.hpp
index ca3f1fc168..f1c77832d1 100644
--- a/wsd/DocumentBroker.hpp
+++ b/wsd/DocumentBroker.hpp
@@ -1618,7 +1618,10 @@ private:
     std::map<std::string, std::string> _embeddedMedia;
 
     /// True iff the config per_document.always_save_on_exit is true.
-    const bool _alwaysSaveOnExit;
+    const bool _alwaysSaveOnExit : 1;
+
+    /// True iff the config per_document.background_autosave is true.
+    const bool _backgroundAutoSave : 1;
 
 #if !MOBILEAPP
     Admin& _admin;