diff --git a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.cpp b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.cpp
index a520b4eb54..52fadcf3ef 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.cpp
@@ -841,6 +841,16 @@ void GuiView::setFocus()
 }
 
 
+bool GuiView::hasFocus() const
+{
+	if (currentWorkArea())
+		return currentWorkArea()->hasFocus();
+	if (currentMainWorkArea())
+		return currentMainWorkArea()->hasFocus();
+	return d.bg_widget_->hasFocus();
+}
+
+
 void GuiView::focusInEvent(QFocusEvent * e)
 {
 	LYXERR(Debug::DEBUG, "GuiView::focusInEvent()" << this);
@@ -1699,6 +1709,16 @@ bool GuiView::getStatus(FuncRequest const & cmd, FuncStatus & flag)
 	Buffer * doc_buffer = documentBufferView()
 		? &(documentBufferView()->buffer()) : 0;
 
+	/* In LyX/Mac, when a dialog is open, the menus of the
+	   application can still be accessed without giving focus to
+	   the main window. In this case, we want to disable the menu
+	   entries that are buffer-related.
+	 */
+	if (cmd.origin() == FuncRequest::MENU && !hasFocus()) {
+		buf = 0;
+		doc_buffer = 0;
+	}
+
 	// Check whether we need a buffer
 	if (!lyxaction.funcHasFlag(cmd.action(), LyXAction::NoBuffer) && !buf) {
 		// no, exit directly
diff --git a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.h b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.h
index 478e3a1917..43b9b988a5 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.h
+++ b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.h
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ public:
 
 	///
 	void setFocus();
+	bool hasFocus() const;
 
 	///
 	void focusInEvent(QFocusEvent * e);