diff --git a/platform/vcs-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vcs/merge/MultipleFileMergeDialog.java b/platform/vcs-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vcs/merge/MultipleFileMergeDialog.java
index 3a574acad0f4..2328c6d8f81a 100644
--- a/platform/vcs-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vcs/merge/MultipleFileMergeDialog.java
+++ b/platform/vcs-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vcs/merge/MultipleFileMergeDialog.java
@@ -322,11 +322,16 @@ public class MultipleFileMergeDialog extends DialogWrapper {
     if (file.getFileType() == StdFileTypes.IDEA_MODULE ||
         file.getFileType() == StdFileTypes.IDEA_PROJECT ||
         file.getFileType() == StdFileTypes.IDEA_WORKSPACE ||
-        ProjectOpenProcessor.getImportProvider(file) != null) {
+        isProjectFile(file)) {
       myProjectManager.saveChangedProjectFile(file, myProject);
     }
   }
 
+  private static boolean isProjectFile(VirtualFile file) {
+    final ProjectOpenProcessor importProvider = ProjectOpenProcessor.getImportProvider(file);
+    return importProvider != null && importProvider.lookForProjectsInDirectory();
+  }
+
   private static String decodeContent(final VirtualFile file, final byte[] content) {
     return StringUtil.convertLineSeparators(file.getCharset().decode(ByteBuffer.wrap(content)).toString());
   }