diff --git a/PlotsBase/src/arg_desc.jl b/PlotsBase/src/arg_desc.jl
index d83fa3d45..1599be5fe 100644
--- a/PlotsBase/src/arg_desc.jl
+++ b/PlotsBase/src/arg_desc.jl
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ const _arg_desc = KW(
                                  Example: `pgfplotsx(); scatter(1:5, extra_kwargs=Dict(:subplot=>Dict("axis line shift" => "10pt"))`."""),
     :fontfamily               => (Union{AStr,Symbol}, "Default font family for title, legend entries, tick labels and guides."),
     :warn_on_unsupported      => (Bool, "Warn on unsupported attributes, series types and marker shapes."),
-    :safe_saving              => (Bool, "Do not override existing files when saving to disk. Choose from (true, false)"),
+    :safe_saving              => (Bool, "Do not override existing files when saving to disk. Choose from (true, false), i.e. `plot(rand(10), safe_saving=false)` for enable file overriding"),
 
     # subplot args
     :title                       => (AStr, "Subplot title."),
diff --git a/PlotsBase/src/output.jl b/PlotsBase/src/output.jl
index df21e2610..90ba74c80 100644
--- a/PlotsBase/src/output.jl
+++ b/PlotsBase/src/output.jl
@@ -138,8 +138,8 @@ file types, some also support svg, ps, eps, html and tex.
 """
 function savefig(plt::Plot, fn) # fn might be an `AbstractString` or an `AbstractPath` from `FilePaths.jl`
     fn = abspath(expanduser(fn))
-    if isfile(fn)
-        @warn "Filename $fn already exist, defaulting to omit overriding. To disable this behavior, provide `:safe_saving=false` kwarg."
+    if isfile(fn) && plt[:safe_saving]
+        @warn "Filename $fn already exists, defaulting to prevent overriding. To disable this behavior, provide `:safe_saving=false` kwarg, i.e. `plot(rand(10), safe_saving=false)`"
         return
     end
     # get the extension