diff --git a/src/editor.c b/src/editor.c
index b97292bf..62e3c2e0 100644
--- a/src/editor.c
+++ b/src/editor.c
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ void editor_fileinfo_update (GuEditor* ec, const gchar* filename) {
         struct stat attr;
         stat(fname, &attr);
         ec->last_modtime = attr.st_mtime;
+        ec->last_external_modtime = ec->last_modtime;
 
         g_free (fname);
         g_free (base);
@@ -305,6 +306,25 @@ void editor_fileinfo_cleanup (GuEditor* ec) {
     ec->basename = NULL;
 }
 
+void editor_modtime_update (GuEditor* ec, gboolean loaded) {
+    struct stat attr;
+    stat(ec->filename, &attr);
+    if (loaded) ec->last_modtime = attr.st_mtime;
+    ec->last_external_modtime = attr.st_mtime;
+}
+
+gboolean editor_externally_modified (GuEditor* ec, gboolean since_loaded) {
+    struct stat attr;
+    stat(ec->filename, &attr);
+    time_t ref_time;
+    if (since_loaded) {
+        ref_time = ec->last_modtime;
+    } else {
+        ref_time = ec->last_external_modtime;
+    }
+    return difftime (ref_time, attr.st_mtime) != 0.0 && ref_time != 0.0;
+}
+
 void editor_sourceview_config (GuEditor* ec) {
     GtkWrapMode wrapmode = 0;
 
diff --git a/src/editor.h b/src/editor.h
index 03a279ad..ef5be28b 100644
--- a/src/editor.h
+++ b/src/editor.h
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ struct _GuEditor {
     gchar* bibfile;
     gchar* projfile;
     time_t last_modtime;
+    time_t last_external_modtime;
 
     /* GUI related members */
     GtkSourceView* view;
@@ -76,8 +77,10 @@ struct _GuEditor {
 
 GuEditor* editor_new (GuMotion* mc);
 void editor_fileinfo_update (GuEditor* ec, const gchar* filename);
-void editor_fileinfo_cleanup (GuEditor* ec);
 gboolean editor_fileinfo_update_biblio (GuEditor* ec,  const gchar* filename);
+void editor_fileinfo_cleanup (GuEditor* ec);
+void editor_modtime_update (GuEditor* ec, gboolean external);
+gboolean editor_externally_modified (GuEditor* ec, gboolean since_loaded);
 void editor_destroy (GuEditor* ec);
 void editor_sourceview_config (GuEditor* ec);
 void editor_activate_spellchecking (GuEditor* ec, gboolean status);
diff --git a/src/gui/gui-main.c b/src/gui/gui-main.c
index a3d0da28..b7303f40 100644
--- a/src/gui/gui-main.c
+++ b/src/gui/gui-main.c
@@ -333,6 +333,45 @@ void gui_set_window_title (const gchar* filename, const gchar* text) {
     g_free (title);
 }
 
+gboolean on_focus_in_view (GtkWidget* widget, GdkEventFocus* event, GuTabContext* tab) {
+    slog (L_WARNING, "Focused in '%s' view.\n", tab->editor->filename);
+    if (editor_externally_modified (tab->editor, FALSE)) {
+        gui_external_changes_enable (tab);
+    }
+    return GDK_EVENT_PROPAGATE;
+}
+
+void on_reload_infobar_response (GtkInfoBar* bar, gint res, gpointer data) {
+    GuEditor* ec = data;
+    gboolean reload = res == GTK_RESPONSE_YES;
+    if (reload) {
+        tabmanager_set_content (A_LOAD, ec->filename, NULL);
+    }
+    editor_modtime_update (ec, reload);
+    gui_recovery_mode_disable (bar);
+}
+
+// based on gedit's external changes infobar
+void gui_external_changes_enable (GuTabContext* tab) {
+    slog (L_WARNING, "The file '%s' changed on disk.\n", tab->editor->filename);
+    gchar* action_msg;
+    if (editor_buffer_changed (tab->editor)) {
+        action_msg = "Drop changes and reload?";
+    } else {
+        action_msg = "Reload?";
+    }
+    gchar* msg = g_strdup_printf ("The file %s changed on disk. %s", tab->editor->filename, action_msg);
+    gtk_label_set_text (GTK_LABEL (tab->page->barlabel), msg);
+    g_free (msg);
+
+    tab->page->infosignal =
+        g_signal_connect (g_active_tab->page->infobar, "response",
+        G_CALLBACK (on_reload_infobar_response), (gpointer)tab->editor);
+
+    gtk_widget_set_sensitive (GTK_WIDGET (tab->editor->view), FALSE);
+    gtk_widget_show (tab->page->infobar);
+}
+
 void on_recovery_infobar_response (GtkInfoBar* bar, gint res, gpointer filename) {
     gchar* prev_workfile = iofunctions_get_swapfile (filename);
 
@@ -348,9 +387,10 @@ void on_recovery_infobar_response (GtkInfoBar* bar, gint res, gpointer filename)
 void gui_recovery_mode_enable (GuTabContext* tab, const gchar* filename) {
     gchar* prev_workfile = iofunctions_get_swapfile (filename);
 
-    slog (L_WARNING, "Swap file `%s' found.\n", prev_workfile);
-    gchar* msg = g_strdup_printf (_("Swap file exists for %s, "
-				"do you want to recover from it?"), filename);
+    slog (L_WARNING, "Swap file '%s' found.\n", prev_workfile);
+    gchar* msg = g_strdup_printf (
+            _("Swap file exists for %s. "
+              "Do you want to recover from it?"), filename);
     gtk_label_set_text (GTK_LABEL (tab->page->barlabel), msg);
     g_free (msg);
 
@@ -363,6 +403,7 @@ void gui_recovery_mode_enable (GuTabContext* tab, const gchar* filename) {
     gtk_widget_show (tab->page->infobar);
 }
 
+// also used for external changes infobar. rename?
 void gui_recovery_mode_disable (GtkInfoBar *infobar) {
     gint id = g_active_tab->page->infosignal;
     g_signal_handler_disconnect (infobar, id);
@@ -410,27 +451,17 @@ void gui_save_file (GuTabContext* tab, gboolean saveas) {
     gchar *text;
     GtkWidget* focus = NULL;
 
-    // check whether the file has been changed by (some) external program
-    double lastmod;
-    struct stat attr;
-    stat(filename, &attr);
-    lastmod = difftime (tab->editor->last_modtime, attr.st_mtime);
-
-    if (lastmod != 0.0 && tab->editor->last_modtime != 0.0 ) {
+    if (!new && editor_externally_modified (tab->editor, TRUE)) {
         // ask the user whether he want to save or reload
-        ret = utils_save_reload_dialog (
+        ret = utils_save_confirmation_dialog (
                 _("The content of the file has been changed externally. "
                   "Saving will remove any external modifications."));
-        if (ret == GTK_RESPONSE_YES) {
-            tabmanager_set_content (A_LOAD, filename, NULL);
-            // resets modtime
-            stat(filename, &attr);
-            tab->editor->last_modtime = attr.st_mtime;
-            goto cleanup;
-        } else if (ret != GTK_RESPONSE_NO) {
-            // cancel means: do nothing
-            goto cleanup;
-        }
+        // clicking "Cancel" (which returns GTK_RESPONSE_NO) and pressing escape
+        // (which treturns something else) should both cancel the save. no
+        // cleanup is required, becaue `pdfname` hasn't had a chance to be
+        // allocated yet, and `!new` should guarantee that `filename` wasn't
+        // allocated earlier
+        if (ret != GTK_RESPONSE_YES) return;
     }
 
     focus = gtk_window_get_focus (gummi_get_gui ()->mainwindow);
@@ -447,10 +478,7 @@ void gui_save_file (GuTabContext* tab, gboolean saveas) {
     if (new) tabmanager_update_tab (filename);
     gui_set_filename_display (tab, TRUE, TRUE);
     gtk_widget_grab_focus (GTK_WIDGET (tab->editor->view));
-
-    // Resets modtime
-    stat(filename, &attr);
-    tab->editor->last_modtime = attr.st_mtime;
+    editor_modtime_update (tab->editor, TRUE);
 
 cleanup:
     if (new) g_free (filename);
diff --git a/src/gui/gui-main.h b/src/gui/gui-main.h
index 6adec434..9fbe818b 100644
--- a/src/gui/gui-main.h
+++ b/src/gui/gui-main.h
@@ -123,7 +123,8 @@ void gui_open_file (const gchar* filename);
 void gui_save_file (GuTabContext* tab, gboolean saveas);
 void gui_set_hastabs_sensitive (gboolean enable);
 
-void on_tab_notebook_switch_page (GtkNotebook *notebook, GtkWidget* nbpage, int pagenr, void* data);
+void on_tab_notebook_switch_page (GtkNotebook *notebook, GtkWidget* nbpage,
+        int pagenr, void* data);
 void on_tool_textstyle_bold_activate (GtkWidget* widget, void* user);
 void on_tool_textstyle_italic_activate (GtkWidget* widget, void* user);
 void on_tool_textstyle_underline_activate (GtkWidget* widget, void* user);
@@ -136,7 +137,6 @@ void on_button_template_open_clicked (GtkWidget* widget, void* user);
 void on_button_template_close_clicked (GtkWidget* widget, void* user);
 void on_template_rowitem_edited (GtkWidget* widget, gchar *path, gchar* filenm,
         void* user);
-void gui_recover_from_swapfile (const gchar* filename);
 void on_menu_autosync_toggled (GtkCheckMenuItem *menu_autosync, void* user);
 
 void on_button_biblio_compile_clicked (GtkWidget* widget, void* user);
@@ -146,6 +146,11 @@ void on_bibreference_clicked (GtkTreeView* view, GtkTreePath* Path,
 void on_biblio_filter_changed (GtkWidget* widget, void* user);
 gboolean on_bibprogressbar_update (void* data);
 
+gboolean on_focus_in_view (GtkWidget* widget, GdkEventFocus* event, GuTabContext* tab);
+void on_reload_infobar_response (GtkInfoBar* bar, gint res, gpointer filename);
+void gui_external_changes_enable (GuTabContext* tab);
+/* void gui_external_changes_disable (GtkInfoBar *infobar); */ // would currently be identical to gui_external_changes_disable
+
 void on_recovery_infobar_response (GtkInfoBar* bar, gint res, gpointer filename);
 void gui_recovery_mode_enable (GuTabContext* tab, const gchar* filename);
 void gui_recovery_mode_disable (GtkInfoBar *infobar);
diff --git a/src/gui/gui-tabmanager.c b/src/gui/gui-tabmanager.c
index 1d8f08f4..d3385294 100644
--- a/src/gui/gui-tabmanager.c
+++ b/src/gui/gui-tabmanager.c
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ int tabmanagergui_create_page (GuTabContext* tc, GuEditor* editor) {
     gtk_box_pack_start (GTK_BOX (tp->editorbox), tp->infobar, FALSE, FALSE, 0);
     gtk_box_pack_end (GTK_BOX (tp->editorbox), tp->scrollw, TRUE, TRUE, 0);
 
+    g_signal_connect_after (editor->view, "focus-in-event", G_CALLBACK (on_focus_in_view), tc);
+
     pos = gtk_notebook_append_page (GTK_NOTEBOOK (g_tabnotebook),
                                     tp->editorbox, GTK_WIDGET (tp->labelbox));
 
@@ -156,6 +158,7 @@ gint tabmanagergui_replace_page (GuTabContext* tc, GuEditor* newec) {
     editor_destroy (g_active_editor);
     gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (tc->page->scrollw),
                        GTK_WIDGET (newec->view));
+    g_signal_connect_after (newec->view, "focus-in-event", G_CALLBACK (on_focus_in_view), tc);
     gtk_widget_show (GTK_WIDGET(newec->view));
 
     int pos = gtk_notebook_page_num (g_tabnotebook,
diff --git a/src/utils.c b/src/utils.c
index 4fce9f5a..724e0238 100644
--- a/src/utils.c
+++ b/src/utils.c
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ void slog (gint level, const gchar *fmt, ...) {
         exit (1);
 }
 
-gint utils_save_reload_dialog (const gchar* message) {
+gint utils_save_confirmation_dialog (const gchar* message) {
     GtkWidget* dialog;
     gint ret = 0;
 
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ gint utils_save_reload_dialog (const gchar* message) {
                  GTK_MESSAGE_QUESTION,
                  GTK_BUTTONS_NONE,
                  "%s", message);
-    gtk_dialog_add_buttons(GTK_DIALOG (dialog), "Reload", GTK_RESPONSE_YES, "Save", GTK_RESPONSE_NO, NULL);
+    gtk_dialog_add_buttons(GTK_DIALOG (dialog), "Cancel", GTK_RESPONSE_NO, "Save Anyway", GTK_RESPONSE_YES, NULL);
 
     gtk_window_set_title (GTK_WINDOW (dialog), _("Confirmation"));
     ret = gtk_dialog_run (GTK_DIALOG (dialog));
diff --git a/src/utils.h b/src/utils.h
index 7c2f66bf..88efb42c 100644
--- a/src/utils.h
+++ b/src/utils.h
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ gboolean in_debug_mode();
 void slog_set_gui_parent (GtkWindow* p);
 void slog (gint level, const gchar *fmt, ...);
 gint utils_yes_no_dialog (const gchar* message);
-gint utils_save_reload_dialog (const gchar* message);
+gint utils_save_confirmation_dialog (const gchar* message);
 gboolean utils_path_exists (const gchar* path);
 gboolean utils_uri_path_exists (const gchar* uri);
 gboolean utils_set_file_contents (const gchar *filename, const gchar *text, gssize length);