diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 19cdf00f9b..aa99d1d8fe 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 *   Data is no longer internally reordered when faceting. This makes it safer to
     feed data columns into `aes()` or into parameters of geoms or stats. However,
     doing so remains discouraged (@clauswilke).
+    
+*   `ggsave()` now exits without creating a new graphics device if previously
+    none was open (@clauswilke, #2363).
 
 
 # ggplot2 3.0.0
diff --git a/R/save.r b/R/save.r
index b31fd4d5e3..4b15eddc6a 100644
--- a/R/save.r
+++ b/R/save.r
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ ggsave <- function(filename, plot = last_plot(),
   dev(filename = filename, width = dim[1], height = dim[2], ...)
   on.exit(utils::capture.output({
     grDevices::dev.off()
-    grDevices::dev.set(old_dev)
+    if (old_dev > 1) grDevices::dev.set(old_dev) # restore old device unless null device
   }))
   grid.draw(plot)