diff --git a/lib/Makefile.am b/lib/Makefile.am
index 26cb880049..e5d45579e6 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/Makefile.am
@@ -441,6 +441,7 @@ dist_images_DATA1X = \
 	images/dialog-toggle_toc.png \
 	images/down.png \
 	images/editclear.png \
+	images/emblem-readonly.png \
 	images/ert-insert.png \
 	images/file-open.png \
 	images/float-insert_figure.png \
diff --git a/lib/images/emblem-readonly.png b/lib/images/emblem-readonly.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..516742e395
Binary files /dev/null and b/lib/images/emblem-readonly.png differ
diff --git a/lib/images/emblem-readonly.svgz b/lib/images/emblem-readonly.svgz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5bff13b8d9
Binary files /dev/null and b/lib/images/emblem-readonly.svgz differ
diff --git a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiWorkArea.cpp b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiWorkArea.cpp
index fc1b1bd094..9f1f4a5316 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiWorkArea.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiWorkArea.cpp
@@ -2011,8 +2011,14 @@ void TabWorkArea::updateTabTexts()
 		QString tab_text = it->displayString().replace("&", "&&");
 		if (!buf.fileName().empty() && !buf.isClean())
 			tab_text += "*";
+		QString tab_tooltip = it->abs();
+		if (buf.isReadonly()) {
+			setTabIcon(tab_index, QIcon(getPixmap("images/", "emblem-readonly", "svgz,png")));
+			tab_tooltip = qt_("%1 (read only)").arg(it->abs());
+		} else
+			setTabIcon(tab_index, QIcon());
 		setTabText(tab_index, tab_text);
-		setTabToolTip(tab_index, it->abs());
+		setTabToolTip(tab_index, tab_tooltip);
 	}
 }