diff --git a/config_host.mk.in b/config_host.mk.in
index e53c4f8967ba..52d98506a27b 100644
--- a/config_host.mk.in
+++ b/config_host.mk.in
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ export DISABLE_ACTIVEX=@DISABLE_ACTIVEX@
 export DISABLE_ATL=@DISABLE_ATL@
 export DISABLE_DBCONNECTIVITY=@DISABLE_DBCONNECTIVITY@
 export DISABLE_DYNLOADING=@DISABLE_DYNLOADING@
+export DISABLE_EXPORT=@DISABLE_EXPORT@
 export DISABLE_EXTENSIONS=@DISABLE_EXTENSIONS@
 export DISABLE_SCRIPTING=@DISABLE_SCRIPTING@
 export DISABLE_LINKOO=@DISABLE_LINKOO@
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 74d9ca101f26..b8bff37e3ff2 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -549,6 +549,12 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(ext-barcode,
         [Enable the Barcode extension.])
 )
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(export,
+    AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-export],
+        [Disable (some) code for document format export. Useful when building *viewer* apps to avoid
+         having export-related code and data linked in. Work in progress, use only if you are hacking on it.])
+)
+
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(database-connectivity,
     AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-database-connectivity],
         [Disable various database connectivity. Work in progress, use only if you are hacking on it.])
@@ -2300,6 +2306,27 @@ if test $_os != iOS -a $_os != Android; then
     BUILD_TYPE="$BUILD_TYPE DESKTOP"
 fi
 
+# Currently we build only viewer apps for Android (and for iOS not even that yet), so to avoid getting
+# some pathological export-related code and data linked in, we will add some judicious #ifndef
+# DISABLE_EXPORT in the code in places where the linker map shows it has a big impact. Places that
+# generate large amounts of code or data related to export only but still gets linked in. At least
+# that is the theory, let's see...
+
+if test -z "$enable_export"; then
+    if test $_os != Android -a $_os != iOS; then
+        enable_export=yes
+    fi
+fi
+
+DISABLE_EXPORT=''
+if test "$enable_export" = yes; then
+    BUILD_TYPE="$BUILD_TYPE EXPORT"
+else
+    DISABLE_EXPORT='TRUE'
+    SCPDEFS="$SCPDES -DDISABLE_EXPORT"
+fi
+AC_SUBST(DISABLE_EXPORT)
+
 dnl Decide whether to build database connectivity stuff (including
 dnl Base) or not. We probably don't want to on non-desktop OSes.
 
diff --git a/solenv/gbuild/gbuild.mk b/solenv/gbuild/gbuild.mk
index b9f8d750b626..5fd7b308ce04 100644
--- a/solenv/gbuild/gbuild.mk
+++ b/solenv/gbuild/gbuild.mk
@@ -282,6 +282,7 @@ gb_GLOBALDEFS += \
 	$(call gb_Helper_define_if_set,\
 		DISABLE_DBCONNECTIVITY \
 		DISABLE_DYNLOADING \
+		DISABLE_EXPORT \
 		DISABLE_EXTENSIONS \
 		DISABLE_SCRIPTING \
 		ENABLE_GRAPHITE \