diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 251778b..cdbe3ae 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 	<groupId>SyncTool</groupId>
 	<artifactId>synctool</artifactId>
-	<version>1.3</version>
+	<version>1.4</version>
 	<packaging>jar</packaging>
 
 	<name>SyncTool</name>
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/tilman/synctool/SyncTool.java b/src/main/java/de/tilman/synctool/SyncTool.java
index 1668ac9..96290d7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/tilman/synctool/SyncTool.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/tilman/synctool/SyncTool.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Array;
 import java.sql.Connection;
 import java.sql.DriverManager;
 import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
@@ -30,7 +31,9 @@ import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.sql.Statement;
 import java.sql.Timestamp;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.commons.codec.digest.DigestUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
@@ -91,6 +94,8 @@ public class SyncTool {
 	private long filesCopied;
 	private long filesDeleted;
 	
+	private List<String> ignoredFiles = null;
+	
 	public SyncTool(JSAPResult config) {
 		
 		this.dryRun = config.getBoolean("dry-run");
@@ -109,6 +114,11 @@ public class SyncTool {
 		if (hashing)
 			log.info("Using MD5 hashes to compare files");
 		
+		if (config.getString("ignore file") != null) {
+			ignoredFiles = Arrays.asList(config.getStringArray("ignore file"));
+		}
+
+		
 		try {
 			log.info("Connecting to database \"" + config.getString("database file") + "\"");
 			Class.forName("org.h2.Driver");
@@ -265,6 +275,14 @@ public class SyncTool {
 				File srcFile = srcFiles[i];
 				srcFiles[i] = null;
 				File destFile = destMap.remove(srcFile.getName());
+				
+				// check for files to ignore
+				if (ignoredFiles != null) {
+					if (ignoredFiles.contains(srcFile.getPath())) {
+						log.info("  Ignoring file " + srcFile.getPath());
+						continue;
+					}
+				}
 
 				// check synchronization history
 				log.debug("  get source history from database");
@@ -457,7 +475,7 @@ public class SyncTool {
 	public static void main(String[] args) {
 		
 		BasicConfigurator.configure(new ConsoleAppender(new PatternLayout("%d{ISO8601} - %m%n")));
-		log.info("Starting SyncTool version 1.3");
+		log.info("Starting SyncTool version 1.4");
 
 		JSAP jsap = new JSAP();
 
@@ -517,6 +535,11 @@ public class SyncTool {
 			jabberPassword.setHelp("the jabber password used for logging in to the server");
 			jsap.registerParameter(jabberPassword);
 
+			FlaggedOption ignoredFile = new FlaggedOption("ignore file").setStringParser(JSAP.STRING_PARSER).setLongFlag(
+					"ignore").setShortFlag('g').setAllowMultipleDeclarations(true);
+			jabberPassword.setHelp("path to a file that should be ignored during synchronization");
+			jsap.registerParameter(ignoredFile);
+
 			Switch dryRunSwitch = new Switch("dry-run").setLongFlag("dry-run").setShortFlag('d');
 			dryRunSwitch.setHelp("perform a trial run with no changes made");
 			jsap.registerParameter(dryRunSwitch);