diff --git a/cmd/micro/micro.go b/cmd/micro/micro.go
index e0ef0987..a90d7e7a 100644
--- a/cmd/micro/micro.go
+++ b/cmd/micro/micro.go
@@ -275,6 +275,7 @@ func main() {
 				continue
 			}
 			config.GlobalSettings[k] = nativeValue
+			config.VolatileSettings[k] = true
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/action/command.go b/internal/action/command.go
index 7165cee0..6448acdc 100644
--- a/internal/action/command.go
+++ b/internal/action/command.go
@@ -482,6 +482,7 @@ func SetGlobalOptionNative(option string, nativeValue interface{}) error {
 	if !local {
 		config.GlobalSettings[option] = nativeValue
 		config.ModifiedSettings[option] = true
+		delete(config.VolatileSettings, option)
 
 		if option == "colorscheme" {
 			// LoadSyntaxFiles()
diff --git a/internal/config/settings.go b/internal/config/settings.go
index c1ec391b..d5328ad9 100644
--- a/internal/config/settings.go
+++ b/internal/config/settings.go
@@ -34,10 +34,15 @@ var (
 	// ModifiedSettings is a map of settings which should be written to disk
 	// because they have been modified by the user in this session
 	ModifiedSettings map[string]bool
+
+	// VolatileSettings is a map of settings which should not be written to disk
+	// because they have been temporarily set for this session only
+	VolatileSettings map[string]bool
 )
 
 func init() {
 	ModifiedSettings = make(map[string]bool)
+	VolatileSettings = make(map[string]bool)
 	parsedSettings = make(map[string]interface{})
 }
 
@@ -176,7 +181,8 @@ func WriteSettings(filename string) error {
 		for k, v := range parsedSettings {
 			if !strings.HasPrefix(reflect.TypeOf(v).String(), "map") {
 				cur, okcur := GlobalSettings[k]
-				if def, ok := defaults[k]; ok && okcur && reflect.DeepEqual(cur, def) {
+				_, vol := VolatileSettings[k]
+				if def, ok := defaults[k]; ok && okcur && !vol && reflect.DeepEqual(cur, def) {
 					delete(parsedSettings, k)
 				}
 			}